'of the
UNIVERSITY
Of ILLINOIS
57305
v.33
KINSHIP SYSTEM OF THE SEMINOLE
BY
ALEXANDER SPOEHR
ASSISTANT CURATOR, AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY AND ARCHAEOLOGY
ANTHROPOLOGICAL SERIES
FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
VOLUME 33, NUMBER 2
FEBRUARY 19, 1942
PUBLICATION 513
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BY FIELD MUSEUM PRESS
ffl
-33
CONTENTS
PAGE
List of Illustrations 33
Preface 35
I. Introduction 37
II. Kinship System of the Oklahoma Seminole 39
Historical Introduction 39
Social Groupings 46
Nation 46
Town 49
Clan 52
Household 53
Kinship Terminology 55
The Terminological System 55
Vocative Terms 61
Range of the Terminological System 61
Kinship Terminology and the Town 73
Principles of Terminological Classification 73
Kinship Behavior 75
The Family 75
Kinship Behavior and the Clan 79
Lineage, Generation, and Behavior 82
Other Consanguineal Kin 84
Relatives by Marriage 84
Correlation of Behavior and Terminology 87
Kinship and Social Customs 88
Birth 88
Childhood and Youth 89
Marriage 90
Death 93
Summary 95
III. The Aboriginal Seminole Kinship System 96
Social Change and White Contact 96
Components of the Aboriginal Kinship System 98
Kinship Terminology 98
Kinship Behavior 100
Household 102
Clan 102
Summary 103
IV. The Oklahoma Seminole Today 105
V. Conclusion 108
Appendix: List of Oklahoma Seminole Informants 110
Bibliography Ill
Index 113
31
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
TEXT FIGURES
PAGE
2. Oklahoma Seminole basic terminological structure. Ego is male .... 56
3. Oklahoma Seminole basic terminological structure. Ego is female ... 57
4. Oklahoma Seminole affinal structure. Ego is male 58
5. Oklahoma Seminole affinal structure. Ego is female 59
6-10. Oklahoma Seminole kinship extensions 62-71
11. Respect-familiarity behavior and the clan 83
33
PREFACE
The following report on the Oklahoma Seminole is based on five
months of field work during the autumn of 1938 and the summer
of 1939. The financial support which made the work possible was
generously provided by the Department of Anthropology of the
University of Chicago. I am particularly indebted to Dr. Fay-
Cooper Cole, Dr. Robert Redfield, and Dr. Frederick Eggan for
their interest in the project. I especially wish to record my apprecia-
tion of Dr. Eggan's advice and criticism.
I also desire to acknowledge the interest of Major Clifford C.
Gregg, Director of Field Museum. Dr. Paul S. Martin, Chief
Curator of Anthropology, has given much encouragement and
friendly criticism, for which I am most grateful. Miss Lillian Ross,
Editor in the Division of Printing at Field Museum, has efficiently
shepherded this report through the press and has been very helpful
in many ways.
The orthography of the Seminole terms appearing in the following
pages has been checked by Dr. Mary Haas. In my beginning
struggles with phonetic recording her aid was more than welcome
and most appreciated.
Lastly, I wish to record my indebtedness to my Indian inform-
ants, a list of whom appears as an appendix. In particular, I take
this opportunity to thank Mr. Wesley Tanyan, my interpreter, for
his intelligent and critical co-operation.
Alexander Spoehr
35
KINSHIP SYSTEM OF THE SEMINOLE
I. INTRODUCTION
One of the major problems in the ethnology of the American
Indian is the determination of types of aboriginal social organization.
A second important problem is how these types have changed follow-
ing the attempted adjustment of Indian tribes to new social and
environmental conditions, including those resulting from the in-
trusion of the white man into the native habitat. The present paper
on the Oklahoma Seminole has reference to these problems, within
the restricted field of Southeastern kinship.
The kinship systems of the Southeast are of interest for several
reasons. This part of the United States seems to have been the
home of a large block of tribes possessing a single type of system —
the Crow type. The essential features of this type are well-known
and have been described elsewhere (Spier, 1925, pp. 72-74; Lesser,
1929, pp. 711-712). Principal distinguishing characteristics are the
classing of the father's sister's female descendants through females
with the father's sister and the classing of her male descendants
through females with the father's brother. However, although the
available data on the Southeastern kinship systems are sufficient
for preliminary analysis, they are not extensive enough for a complete
understanding of the various systems and their relation to forms
of marriage, residential arrangements, descent, and other aspects
of social organization. More field data are necessary to develop
further the classifications and correlations already made on the basis
of the research of Swanton, Speck, and others. Also, several years
ago Eggan analyzed the information on the Choctaw, Chickasaw,
Cherokee, Creek, and Yuchi systems and pointed out that with the
exception of the Eastern Cherokee they do not conform strictly to
a Crow type but instead are odd variations of it. In addition, he
cited evidence to show that they formerly did conform to a Crow
type, but changed in similar ways under the pressure of the same
kind of contact with whites (Eggan, 1937). Here was an interesting
hypothesis which promised to yield fruitful results if tested and
developed in the field. What additional data could be gathered to
show that "pure" Crow types existed in the Southeast? What
further evidence could be found of recent change away from these
types? What were and are the conditions under which this change
has taken place? These questions led to the present study.
37
38 Kinship System of Seminole
The following chapters on Seminole kinship have reference
primarily to the first of the three questions just asked — what addi-
tional evidence exists to support or disprove the hypothesis that
"pure" Crow types were formerly widespread in the Southeast?
Gilbert's material on the Eastern Cherokee (Gilbert, 1937) showed
that they retained a relatively unchanged Crow type system.
Perhaps another of the less acculturated Southeastern groups could
be found whose social organization had changed no more than that
of the Eastern Cherokee. The Seminole were chosen as a likely
possibility, while they had the further advantage of being an off-
spring of the Creeks and might accordingly preserve aspects of
social organization which had disappeared or been altered in the
parent tribe. Field work was accordingly begun with the Seminole
and carried on among both the Florida and Oklahoma divisions.
A brief outline of the social organization of the Cow Creek Seminole
of Florida was presented in a previous paper (Spoehr, 1941a). The
present report extends the investigation to their brethren in
Oklahoma.
I have tried to do two things in the pages that follow. First,
I have attempted to give a concise account of Oklahoma Seminole
kinship during the days of the Seminole Nation before the allotment
of Indian lands (1903). Although Swanton included the Seminole
in his work on Creek social organization (Swanton, 1928), no inten-
sive study of their kinship system has been made. Second, I have
compared the Oklahoma and Florida groups in order to find out
the characteristics of the Seminole kinship system before the removal
west of most of the tribe after the Seminole Wars of the nineteenth
century. The relevance of this material for the comparative study
of Southeastern social organization is then stated in the concluding
chapter.
II. KINSHIP SYSTEM OF THE OKLAHOMA SEMINOLE
Historical Introduction
The Seminole are a Muskogean tribe that began to be known
by its present name during the last few decades of the eighteenth
century. After the destruction of the Apalachee in northern Florida,
a body of Oconee moved southward into that state and formed the
nucleus about which the Seminole grew. These first-comers spoke
Hitchiti. To this base were added southward-moving groups of
Lower Creeks, whose language was Muskogee proper. After the
Creek War of 1813-14 a large body of Upper Creeks also migrated
to Florida, with the result that the predominant element in the
tribe became Muskogee. Although the Seminole exhibited a high
degree of cultural homogeneity, the linguistic cleavage between the
Muskogee-speaking and the Hitchiti- or Mikasuki-speaking Indians
has remained to the present day among the Florida Seminole and
persisted well into the latter half of the nineteenth century in the
Oklahoma division of the tribe.
The relations between Indians and whites in Florida always
tended to be turbulent, and hostilities existed off and on until 1832,
when a number of Seminole leaders signed a treaty whereby they were
bound to move west of the Mississippi. However, a large part of
the tribe resisted and under the leadership of Osceola waged the
Second Seminole War, which lasted for nearly eight years. The
Seminole were finally defeated and all but a handful, who retreated
into the fastness of the interior, were removed to the west.
By 1843 the major part of the Seminole had been transported
to Indian Territory, which is now part of Oklahoma. Their lot was a
hapless one for more than a decade following. Added to the hard-
ships resulting from the radical change of natural environment were
those imposed by a misguided federal government, under whose ill-
planned policy the Seminole remained restless and unhappy. At the
time of their departure from Florida the Indians were told to leave
their axes, hoes, and household utensils, as new ones would be
furnished them on their arrival in Oklahoma. When the Seminole
reached their destination they were destitute, and then found that
the promises of the government were fulfilled inadequately or not
at all. Even more irritating was the government's attempt to force
them to join the Creek Nation and settle on the lands of that tribe.
Some of the latter had fought against the Seminole during the
39
40 Kinship System of Seminole
Seminole Wars and the Florida Indians retained considerable bitter-
ness towards them. The matter was further complicated by disputes
arising over the ownership of Seminole Negro slaves, many of whom
were claimed by Creeks, while the Seminole practice of allowing
their Negroes to live in separate communities with a relatively
great amount of liberty and freedom clashed with Creek policy.
The net result was that a large part of the Seminole tribe did not
settle on Creek territory at all, but instead remained around the
Fort Gibson army post in the Cherokee Nation, while those that
were induced to build their homes on Creek land refused to subject
themselves to Creek laws or to participate in the government of
that tribe. Finally, the United States recognized the folly of
attempting to force the Seminole to amalgamate with the Creeks,
and by a treaty entered into in 1856 gave the Seminole a separate
tract of land adjoining the Creek Nation on the west. This was
the first major step toward the social rehabilitation of the tribe
(Foreman, 1934, pp. 223-270).
Though the settlement of their new land was retarded by the
depredations of roving Plains Indians, the Seminole gradually
occupied the territory set aside for them. Coincident with this
there emerged a movement designed to set up a tribal government
similar to that of the Creek, Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw.
A meeting to discuss such organization was held in 1859, and a coun-
cil house erected in 1860; it seemed that at last the Seminole would
gain a measure of stability and independence under their own laws.
But the promise of a brighter future was shattered with the advent
of the Civil War, a conflict that gathered the tribe into its toils and
left it once again poverty-stricken and destitute. The Confederate
government early made advances to the Indians who had migrated
from the Southeast. A division of opinion split the latter, however,
and part of the Seminole cast their lot with the South and the
remainder with the North. Those who favored the North joined
a large band of Creeks under the leadership of the famed chief,
Hopothle Yahola, and effected a bloody retreat northward into
Kansas, later moving to Fort Gibson. The southern Seminoles
moved south to the Red River for the duration of the war. Both
northern and southern divisions of the tribe contributed to the
armed forces of the Union and Confederate armies, both suffered
losses, and the Seminole as a whole underwent a serious setback
by their participation in a conflict that was not of their making.
After the conclusion of hostilities the Seminole entered into a
new treaty with the United States government in 1866. By this
Kinship System of Oklahoma Seminole 41
treaty they ceded back the land granted them in 1856 and received
in return a much smaller tract whose boundaries roughly coincided
with those of the present Seminole County in Oklahoma. This
treaty marked the beginning of a new era in the tumultuous history
of the tribe. Despite the gradual advance of the white civilization
that slowly engulfed them and eventually brought their final down-
fall, the Seminole enjoyed for the next thirty-five years a period of
relative peace and stability. Certain aspects of this period deserve
more extended comment.
From the Civil War to the time of allotment in 1903 the material
condition of the Indians gradually improved. In this they were
required to start nearly from scratch. The northern group was
moved from the Fort Gibson refugee camp to their new country
in the fall of 1866 and supplied with food rations until their own
crops could be raised and matured. The willingness with which the
Seminole worked to establish themselves is attested by their agent
(Com. Ind. Aff., 1867, pp. 327-328):
They at once commenced the erection of cabins and providing themselves
with suitable places for winter. The land on which they were located was
new, uncultivated, and for the greater part covered with timber. On this
land and without farming implements, except such as had been transported
with them from Kansas and Fort Gibson, and without any seeds furnished
them except corn, they were told that they must raise sufficient for their
own subsistence after the first day of July, 1867, as the government had
determined to furnish no more supplies after that time. . . . During the
winter they made more than 100,000 rails, some bands of 100 persons fencing
500 acres, by carrying the rails on their backs. . . . By a system of govern-
ment enforced by the chief and headmen, every man and woman was com-
pelled to work; and any neglect on the day appointed visited with a fine. . . .
There has been a large surplus of corn raised this year. They have been
careful of the moneys paid them, and have invested all their power in hogs
and stock, and the coming year will show a prosperous, contented people.
The southern Seminoles did not move onto the tribal lands
until 1869 (Com. Ind. Aff., 1869, p. 419). The schism caused by
the Civil War healed with relative rapidity and the Indians quietly
pursued their agricultural occupation, enlarging their fields and
cultivating their crops of corn with increased energy. In 1873 the
Seminole agent estimated that they had 7,600 acres under cultiva-
tion, had produced 150,000 bushels of corn and 4,000 bushels of
potatoes during the year, and owned 10,500 head of cattle and 25,000
of swine (Com. Ind. Aff., 1873, p. 336). In this connection an
interesting fact emerges. Although some ambitious individuals
among the Indians continued to strive to increase their wealth,
most of the tribe, once their basic needs of food and shelter were
satisfied, were content with their lot. The census of 1890 (Census
Bull., 1894, p. 69) stated that the Seminole "are generally poor,
42 Kinship System of Seminole
live in small houses, frequently with earth floors and without
windows." Indeed, in commenting on the days before allotment
many of my old informants would remark, "We were poor, but things
were running right and we were happy." Although contact with
whites must have increased the Indian's range of wants, these
apparently did not expand enough to stimulate the Seminole to an
undue striving for material wealth.
The question naturally arises as to the character and extent
of contact with whites during the period from the Civil War to
allotment. This may be conveniently examined as it refers to two
categories of facts: (1) the contact agents, or representatives of
white civilization among the Seminole, and (2) the contact milieu,
or setting in which the contact took place.1 The actual results of
acculturation will be considered in a later chapter.
The contact agents were principally three: the government
administrator, the white settler, and the missionary. The relative
importance of the first two is difficult to determine. An Indian
agent was stationed in the Seminole Nation until 1874, when the
Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole agencies were
combined and a single office established at Muskogee (Com. Ind.
Aff., 1876, p. 80). Although the Seminole agent was well aware of
the state of affairs among his charges, the actual degree of his
participation in their activities cannot be discerned accurately;
after his office became a part of the Union Agency in Muskogee,
the dealings of the government with the Seminole seem to have
been very limited and confined primarily to financial transactions
with officials of the tribal government. Muskogee was more than
a hundred miles removed by a rough wagon road and the distance
was apparently sufficient to discourage much contact between
Seminole and agent. As for the white settler, his role is even more
difficult to ascertain. He was continuously present, but in relatively
small numbers. According to the 1890 census there were ninety-
six white persons living in the Seminole Nation (Senate Report
377, 1894, p. 70). The same year the agent reported that the last
illegally resident white intruder, a species of squatter that greatly
troubled the other four "civilized" tribes, had been removed by the
Indian police of the agency (Com. Ind. Aff., 1890, p. 91). The white
settlers increased up to allotment but I do not believe they were
ever present in sufficient numbers during this period to cause undue
1 The terms "contact agent" and "contact milieu" are borrowed from Fortes
(1936, p. 26).
Kinship System of Oklahoma Seminole 43
disruption of Indian life. Miscegenation occurred of course. How-
ever, by this time the Seminole were well acquainted with the white
man, for they had known him for more than a century.
Undoubtedly the most influential representatives of white
civilization were the missionaries. The government agent was
stationed to transact certain specific business with the tribe; the
white settler entered Indian territory to better his own personal
fortunes; but the missionary was consciously engaged in an attempt
to alter Indian ways of life. His contact was more intimate and his
influence unquestionably greater.
During the years of their residence in Oklahoma, the Seminole
received missionaries from three Christian sects — the Presbyterians,
Baptists, and Methodists. Of these, the Presbyterians were first
upon the scene. Apparently their first missionary was one Rev.
M' Kenny, who in 1843 was sent by the Presbyterian Board of
Missions. However, he found the Seminole in an unsettled condition
and, feeling that he had little chance of success, soon abandoned
the effort for more profitable work among the Choctaw (Benson,
1860, p. 152). The next year, John Bemo, an unusual Seminole who
had received some education in Philadelphia, opened a school for
the Indians. This effort culminated in the establishment of the
Oak Ridge Mission School by Bemo and John Lilley, a Presbyterian
missionary who had come west in 1848. Also associated with Bemo
and Lilley was J. R. Ramsey, who joined them in 1856. The school
lasted for ten years until 1858, when the Seminole moved to the land
granted them by the Treaty of 1856 (Foreman, 1934, p. 246). Ram-
sey accompanied the Indians and continued missionary work among
them.
The first representative of the Baptists arrived in 1859. He was
Joseph Murrow, born in Georgia, and himself the son of a Baptist
minister (Thoburn and Wright, 1929, p. 213). A church of seven
members was started in 1860 and held its own until the Civil War
(Routh, 1932, p. 42). It is not surprising to find that Murrow and
his converts were sympathetic to the South and joined the southern
band of Seminoles, Murrow himself being appointed Confederate
agent to the tribe (Thoburn and Wright, 1929, p. 391) . The Christian
church did not thereby desert the Indians of the northern group,
however, for the Presbyterians found them more congenial than
their southern tribesmen and the north-south cleavage came to
coincide with the line of denominational difference (Thoburn and
Wright, 1929, p. 391).
44 Kinship System of Seminole
After the Civil War the Baptist and Presbyterian missionaries
returned with the Seminole to their tribal lands. Efforts to
Christianize the Indians continued and were augmented by the
entrance of the Methodists into the field. Churches became estab-
lished, Indians were ordained as ministers, and the movement took
root. By the time of allotment in 1903 Christianity was an accepted
religion. Numerically, however, the non-Christians seem to have
remained superior. The ratio of the two is difficult to determine,
but probably two-thirds of the Indians were still pagan. The
ceremonial square grounds continued in operation. As a matter of
fact the growth of churches is primarily a post-allotment phenome-
non; previously Christianity was established only among a minority.
Furthermore, the distinction between Christian and pagan was not,
and is not now clear-cut, for a considerable number of people partici-
pate in the services of both faiths. In 1903 the situation may be
envisaged as a small nucleus of devout Christians, containing a
number of the most influential men of the tribe, surrounded by several
hundred followers of varying degrees of faithfulness, while the
remainder of the people preferred to follow in the footsteps of their
forefathers.
From the standpoint of social change the missionaries' part in
introducing schools was probably more important than their attempts
at conversion. Four small day schools were started in 1868, the
first year of schooling after the Civil War. Two of these, however,
were for Negro freedmen (Com. Ind. Aff., 1868, p. 286). The four
schools continued in operation under the superintendence of Ramsey,
the Presbyterian missionary, though in his report for 1871 the
government agent noted that there was considerable difficulty in
the schools because the white teachers did not know Muskogee nor
the pupils English (Com. Ind. Aff., 1871, p. 584). As a matter of
fact, it was on instruction in the latter language that the major
part of the teachers' efforts were expended. How effective these
were I do not know, but the Presbyterians increased their work by
opening a boarding school, designed to enroll twelve Indian children,
in 1871 (Com. Ind. Aff., 1872, p. 242). It was suspended for a
time in 1873, but the agent's report for 1880 reveals it back in
operation. At this time 226 children attended either day or boarding
school one month of the year (Com. Ind. Aff., 1880, p. 96). A
second boarding school was started, this one by the Methodists
(Com. Ind. Aff., 1880, pp. 280-281). The Indians soon perceived
sufficient value in the white man's education to divert a share of
the tribal income to the support of the school system (Com. Ind.
Kinship System of Oklahoma Seminole 45
Aff., 1886, p. 154). The latter was further expanded in 1891 with
the opening of the Mikasuki Academy, which finished its first term
with an enrollment of one hundred boys in regular attendance (Com.
Ind. Aff., 1892, p. 256). Emahaka, a similar school for girls, com-
menced operations in 1893 with approximately the same capacity
(Chaney, 1928, p. 82). Mikasuki and Emahaka displaced the two
older boarding schools and until allotment the educational system
was composed of these two academies, together with from four to
six day-schools; the expense of maintaining the schools was borne
by the tribe, except that the teachers were supplied by the mission
boards of the Presbyterian and Baptist churches (Com. Ind. Aff.,
1895, p. 161). Thus, although education in the white man's manner
started slowly, it was well established by the end of the Nation.
Actually the instruction was very elementary, but those who received
it at least learned a certain amount of English and a barrier to the
introduction of new ideas was broken down.
Nevertheless the Seminole remained relatively free from intense
contact with whites. There were basically two reasons for this,
both of which refer to the contact milieu. They are to be found in
(1) the geographic position of the tribe, and (2) the lack of transpor-
tation facilities. The influx of whites into Indian Territory was from
the east, north, and south, but the Seminole Nation was placed so
that it was protected from white infiltration by the lands of the
other four "civilized" tribes. Furthermore, the only means of
transportation was by wagon road, for it was not until 1896 that the
first railroad, the Choctaw, Oklahoma, and Gulf, was built through
Seminole territory. The Saint Louis and San Francisco came in
1900 and the Kansas and Texas in 1903, but all these were constructed
in the closing years of the national government (Chaney, 1928,
p. 103). In the geographic position of the Seminole and in the lack
of easy transportation facilities lie two main reasons why the Seminole
were affected less by white contact than the other Southeastern tribes
in Oklahoma during the last forty years of the nineteenth century.
Coupled with these factors was an oft-noted tendency for the
Seminole to cling to their own customs and to remain essentially
conservative in the face of change.
These remarks are not meant to imply that during the period
from the close of the Civil War to allotment in 1903 the old Indian
culture was left to follow its own development, free from the influence
of the ever-impinging white civilization. Like the Choctaw,
Chickasaw, Cherokee, and Creek, the Seminole had adopted
European dress and were known as one of the "Five Civilized
46 Kinship System of Seminole
Tribes." Their native arts and handicrafts virtually disappeared,
and much of the old culture was modified or destroyed. It is true,
however, that the economic foundations of the Indian society re-
mained intact. This I believe to be very important, for the social
organization was thereby enabled to adjust itself to the ever-present
forces of social change. When the Seminole Nation came to an
end with the allotment of Indian lands, it was not long before social
disruption became the order of the day.
The foregoing paragraphs have been introduced to allow a certain
historical perspective for the data on Oklahoma Seminole social
organization. These data have reference to the period preceding
1900. They were gathered from old full-blood Indian informants,
who remembered conditions during the years of the Nation. How-
ever, these men and women came from families of different degrees
of conservatism and it is doubtful how long certain customs — the
restrictions on widows, for instance — endured. Finally, the question
of what was, and what in the minds of informants should have been,
cannot be checked adequately through observation of present be-
havior, for the traditional patterns of action have largely vanished
into the past. Therefore the data must be allocated to a general
period rather than to a more definite historical horizon. This period
is roughly that from the Civil War to the time of allotment. Al-
though certain aspects of the social organization, such as the termi-
nological aspect of the kinship system, continued in operation for
many years, the Indian culture has now broken down. Particularly
in the last three decades change has been very rapid, and today the
Oklahoma Seminole are in an advanced stage of acculturation. The
old forms of social grouping and social control have disintegrated,
while the tribe as an integrated social body can scarcely be said to
exist. It is with the full realization of these limitations that the
bllowing material is presented.
^^fpjlc
Social Groupings
the nation
As one of the Five Civilized Tribes, the Seminole enjoyed a
peculiar legal status. The Seminole, Creek, Cherokee, Choctaw, and
Chickasaw were self-governed tribes which, though located within
the territorial limits of the United States, were not subject to its
laws or to the jurisdiction of its courts. Thus, the citizens of the
Seminole Nation were amenable only to their own laws and were
entitled to have criminal and civil cases tried in the courts of the
Kinship System of Oklahoma Seminole 47
Seminole Nation. However, as the population of the area contiguous
to the territory of the Five Civilized Tribes increased with the years,
the pressure of white expansion became so great that the whites
overflowed into Indian Territory, the Indians admitting them into
their country. Though the influx did not affect the Seminole to
any great extent, this movement resulted in large numbers of whites
settling in the territory of the other four tribes. The white residents
were without school facilities, nor did they come under the jurisdic-
tion of the Indian laws and courts. This created an unhealthy
condition, for Indian Territory became the refuge of criminals from
adjacent areas. In 1889 and 1890, Congress accordingly gave the
United States courts jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases where
the parties to the controversy were not both citizens of the Five
Tribes, though where only Indian citizens were involved the tribal
courts retained jurisdiction. By this time, however, the movement
of whites into Indian Territory had become so great that pressure
was constantly exerted on Congress to end the authority of the
Indian courts and laws entirely, for the white residents were eager
for the abolition of the tribal governments and the opening up of the
territory to unrestricted settlement. In 1898 the tribal laws were
indeed superseded and the laws of the United States and the State
of Arkansas extended over all persons in Indian Territory, which
thereupon came under the jurisdiction of the United States courts
(except the Choctaw and Chickasaw). This effectively ended the
self-governing character of the Seminole Nation, although the
allotment of Seminole lands did not come until 1903.
The tribal government of the Seminole was organized on a white
rather than a native pattern. As such, it was superimposed on the
old society. Furthermore, the economic raison d'etre of the national
government lay outside the Indian social system, in that the salaries
of the tribal officers and the funds for the maintenance of the tribal
blacksmith shops and schools were drawn from interest payments
on accounts held in trust for the Seminole by the United States
government, these funds having been transferred to the Indians'
account according to the terms of the treaty of 1866. Yet the national
government became a prominent feature of Seminole society and no
account of their social organization is complete without a brief
outline of the essentials of the tribal system.
For several years after the Civil War, the northern and southern
divisions of the tribe maintained separate organizations, each having
its own council and head chief, though the chief of the northern
division was acknowledged as principal chief in transactions between
48 Kinship System of Seminole
the Seminole agent and the Nation (Com. Ind. Aff., 1869, p. 419).
It was not long before the two divisions merged and a single tribal
organization was formed. In its final form this consisted primarily
of a principal chief, a second chief, a national council, and a company
of lighthorsemen. The chief and second chief were elected for a
four-year term by majority vote of all male citizens of age, while
the council members were drawn from the fourteen towns of the
Nation, each town being entitled to three representatives. Twelve
of the towns were made up of Indians and two consisted entirely of
Negro freedmen; the latter were full citizens of the Nation and
entitled to all privileges of citizenship. The lighthorsemen, ten in
number, enforced the laws of the Nation. A treasurer, superin-
tendent of schools, and superintendent of blacksmith shops, main-
tained at tribal expense for the benefit of the people, completed the
list of important officers.
The extreme paucity of documentary material makes it difficult
to determine how the national government worked. One of the
better accounts, by Colonel McKennon of the Dawes Commission,
gives an interesting picture of conditions in the last years of the
Nation, and is here included (McKennon, 1906, p. 2):
There are fourteen bands and consequently there are forty-two members
of the general council. The body is presided over by a chairman, which it
elects from its own number. The principal chief and second chief are always
expected to be present in the meetings of the council, in which they exercise
the right of debate but do not vote upon any question that is to be determined
by vote of the council. All bills passed by the council are either approved or
vetoed by the principal chief, and his approval of the judgment of the council
in either civil or criminal cases, must be obtained before such judgment can
be carried into execution.
The trials of all civil cases are conducted in the simplest manner possible.
The parties appear before the council, each tells his story, and if either of
them has witnesses these are examined. When this is done, the case is de-
termined by a majority vote of the members of the council. Criminal trials
are conducted in a like simple manner. The prisoner is brought before the
council and is asked if he is guilty or not guilty. If he pleads guilty, the case
is investigated in a limited manner by the council, generally taking the state-
ment of the accused alone, but if there be any witnesses present with knowl-
edge of the fact, they are heard, and then the guilt or innocence of the accused
is determined by a majority vote of the council.
If the prisoner enters a plea of not guilty, his case is examined more
critically, he is heard in his own behalf and is permitted to summon witnesses
at the expense of the government. When the government and the accused
have concluded their testimony, his guilt or innocence, as in other cases,
is determined by a majority vote of the council. In no case is either the
defendant or government represented by counsel.
If the accused is found guilty, the principal chief will either approve
or disapprove the finding of the council. If he disapproves it the judgment
cannot be executed, and the prisoner goes free. His disapproval is equivalent
to the granting of a pardon. Indeed, he has the power, even after he has
approved the judgment, to pardon the defendant at any time before the
execution. If the judgment is approved by him, it is the usual custom to
execute the sentence during the sitting of the council which tried the case.
Kinship System of Oklahoma Seminole 49
Under the Seminole laws there are two capital offenses, homicide and
larceny. For every other offense the culprit is punishable by whipping.
For the first offense of larceny, the convict receives fifty lashes upon his bare
back; for the second offense 100 lashes; for the third 150, and for the fourth
the law imposes the death penalty by shooting. In no case, however, has this
law been executed and a Seminole put to death for breach of it. In such case
the council votes to determine whether the law shall be executed or the
defendant pardoned, and in every instance the vote has resulted in a pardon.
If after this, the pardoned man continues to steal he is punished in the degree
and order above mentioned.
When a party was convicted of a capital offense and sentenced to be shot,
the day was fixed for his execution, and certain members of the family of the
deceased, nearest in blood to him, were deputized to prepare and load two
guns with which the condemned was to be executed. These were on the
morning of the execution and just before the shooting, placed in the hands of
two lighthorsemen. Formerly the culprit was shot in the head, but in later
years in the heart, the latter being deemed a more humane mode of execution.
A leaf or piece of paper was pinned over the heart and just before the time
to fire the chief placed a watch in the hand of an officer, ordinarily the captain
of the lighthorse, which he held until the moment of the execution, when he
gave the command, "now," and the shots were fired. If the guns failed to fire,
the man went free.
Two further aspects of the Nation should be noted in passing.
One is the size of the tribe, which at the time of allotment was counted
at about 2,100 Indians. The other is the fact that neither individuals
nor the Indian towns owned land; title to all Seminole land was
held only by the Nation.
It remains to state the principal results of the development of
the national government upon the native social organization.
Briefly, the effects of this development were threefold. First, it
gave the Seminole a tribal unity which they previously had not
attained, with the possible exception of the cohesion they displayed
during the Seminole Wars. Second, the national government assumed
certain functions formerly assigned to other social groupings; thus
the clan originally acted in cases of murder, but punishment for
homicide became a matter for action by the tribal government.
Apparently this transference tended to weaken somewhat the
solidarity of the clan. Lastly, though the Seminole remained the most
conservative of the Five Tribes, the support of schools by the
national government stimulated the acculturation of the Indians
and made for more rapid social change.
THE TOWN
The town (t&lwa) formed an important local group prior to the
establishment of the Nation and continued as such until allotment.
In the memory of my informants there were fourteen towns repre-
sented on the tribal council of the Seminole Nation. Two of these
towns or bands, as they are now called, consisted entirely of Negro
50 Kinship System of Seminole
freedmen and the remaining twelve of Indians. The names of the
Indian towns were as follows:
1. Hitchiti 5. Eufaula No. 2 9. Okfuski
2. Mikasuki 6. Eufaula No. 3 10. Talahasuci
3. Chiaha 7. Liwahili 11. Fus Huci
4. Eufaula No. 1 8. Ocisi 12. Newcomers
Ideally speaking, a Seminole town consisted of a local group,
which in addition to being a political subdivision of the Nation
maintained its own ceremonial square ground where the town dances,
ceremonies, and festivities were held. The towns comprising the
list given above did not all conform to these criteria. The three
Eufaula towns were apparently formed by the segmentation of one
original group and continued to participate in ceremonies at a
single square ground. Fus Huci was originally an old Creek town
that migrated to Florida; after moving to Oklahoma it gave up its
square ground and joined Liwahili, though apparently continuing to
exist as a separate local group. I was told by Rina Coker, a very
old Seminole who was born in Florida and who came west at the
time of removal, that Newcomers town, to which she belonged, kept
together for a short time but then scattered among the other towns
and ceased to maintain a square ground.
Though the degree of cultural homogeneity was very high among
the Seminole, two linguistic divisions were represented in the tribe.
Hitchiti and Mikasuki towns spoke variant but mutually under-
standable dialects of the Hitchiti language; the remainder spoke
Muskogee proper. The difference in language resulted in a certain
social barrier between Hitchiti and Mikasuki on one hand and the
other towns on the other, for Muskogee and Hitchiti are mutually
unintelligible. Hitchiti town and Mikasuki are said to have visited
each other more than the remaining towns, and though Hitchiti
was on very friendly terms with Chiaha, its neighbor to the north,
the Mikasukis are reported to have kept mostly within their own
linguistic division.
The size of the Seminole towns varied greatly. It is very difficult
to get accurate estimates, but at the close of the century Hitchiti
was reported to number barely a dozen families — a mere hamlet —
whereas Mikasuki was said to count well over a hundred. This
variation in size may have affected the degree of compactness of
local settlements, though the pattern of house distribution was
apparently much the same. Each household possessed its own cabin
and cultivated its own fields. The placing of the former was directly
Kinship System of Oklahoma Seminole 51
related to the available water supply, so that a typical settlement
was built along the low ridges flanking one of the numerous small
creeks in the region. The houses might be anywhere from fifty to
several hundred yards or more apart; apparently the settlement
tended to spread in later times, so that in spatial terms the com-
munity exhibited a loose grouping of houses extending along a water-
course. The fields were likewise scattered, with single areas of
cultivation rarely exceeding five acres, and more usually consisting
of only one or two. The land in the Nation was of very unequal
quality, and the Seminole tended to utilize the small areas of bottom
land; consequently the fields of a family might be a half mile
or more distant from its cabin. The distribution of houses and
fields indicates that in spatial terms the town was actually a loosely
gathered settlement, which spread even more in the later years of
the Nation.
Socially, however, the local group was a more compact unit.
In the late spring and summer, particularly at the time of the
Green Corn Dances and the tribal council meetings, there was
considerable mingling of people from up and down the Nation.
Also, the men had a wider range of social contacts than the women.
But for the most, according to my old informants, the members of
a town kept largely to themselves. Marriages were said to have
been contracted mainly within the local group. In case an outside
marriage took place, the man or the woman left his or her town to
take residence in that of the spouse as dictated by circumstances.
In either instance, change of residence theoretically did not result in
change of town affiliation, the absentee retaining his or her member-
ship in the town of birth. Children of such a couple were supposed
to belong to the town of the mother, though changes in town affilia-
tion did occur.
The division of Seminole towns into "white" and "red" early
lost its significance. It continued to determine the sides for the
inter-town ball games, but these were relatively infrequent; the
Seminole were much less given to such games than the Creeks.
Also, in the Green Corn Dance a town would send special invitations
to other towns of the same division or "fire," though all were free
to attend. But aside from this I could discover no other functions
of the white-red division. There was apparently no great feeling
of solidarity among towns of the same "fire," nor of opposition to
those of the opposite "fire." Propinquity became of greater impor-
tance than the old dual division. The northernmost town in the
Nation, Chiaha, and the southernmost, Liwahili, never cared greatly
52 Kinship System of Seminole
for each other though they belong to the same "fire," and in the old
days there was considerable political rivalry, especially in the
election of tribal chiefs, between the southern and northern districts
of the Nation. The two northernmost towns, Chiaha and Hitchiti,
seem always to have been on friendly terms, and when Hitchiti gave
up its square ground the non-Christians danced at Chiaha, though
the two towns are on opposite sides of the dual division. Inasmuch
as one would expect this division to be particularly important in
such ceremonial matters, one can infer that it had lost a great deal
of its importance to the Seminole.
THE CLAN
The Seminole were divided into matrilineal, exogamous clans.
A list of these is given below:
1.
Bear
8.
Alligator
15.
Turkey
22.
Pumpkin
2.
Deer
9.
Bird
16.
Kapiccdlki
23.
Salt
3.
Panther
10.
Potato
17.
Aktayahcdlki
24.
Buzzard
4.
Snake
11.
Wind
18.
Waksdlki
25.
Fox
5.
Wolf
12.
Grass
19.
Otter
26.
Eagle
6.
Coon
13.
Skunk
20.
Toad
27.
Tamdlki
7.
Beaver
14.
Mole
21.
Earth
28.
Nokfildlki
All these clan names appear on Swanton's list (Swanton, 1928,
pp. 115-117). There may well have been other clans which became
extinct and which my informants could not remember. I was told
that when a clan came to consist of only one or two families it was
generally incorporated into a more nourishing one. Actually only
twelve or fifteen of the clans on the list above were at all numerous.
Even these were of unequal size, while I am even doubtful of the
existence of several of the others, as they preserved only a tenuous
existence in the memory of my older informants. Also, it should
be noted that the number of members and the importance of a clan
varied from town to town; thus there were so many Potatoes at
Chiaha that it was familiarly known as "Potato-town," and at Hitchiti
the largest clan was said to be the Deer, and at Fus Huci the Bear.
Within each town the clans were divided according to a dual
division, one side being hata-ka ("white") and the other cilo-ko-
("different speech") (Swanton, 1928, p. 157). This moiety arrange-
ment, even more than the dual division of towns, seems to have
lost its significance at an early date. For the intra-town ball games
between the clans on opposite sides of the division, which usually
involved unequal sides, there was substituted an arbitrary "east-
west" division of players, a method borrowed from the Creeks.
Kinship System of Oklahoma Seminole 53
Other than its use in these ball games, I did not discover any other
function of the clan moiety.
At the time the Seminole were moved to Oklahoma the clans
were also linked into phratral groups. The character and social
function of the latter are not clear and I have little to add to Swanton's
material. Fortunately, the phratry is still a functioning group in
Florida and I expended my effort there rather than in attempting
to gather vague facts regarding the phratry from the memories of
the Oklahoma Seminole. A quotation from Swanton (1928, p. 121)
covers the Oklahoma situation:
Clans were linked into phratries in various ways. Many were small and
were considered merely as minor branches of some large clan; others were
co-ordinate in size and importance, though not necessarily of equal importance
in every town. Some appear to have been almost entirely confined to certain
villages, while others were represented nearly everywhere. Still more remark-
able is the fact, hardly paralleled elsewhere, that the very same clans were
often linked into a phratry in some towns and separated in others, sometimes
even linked with different clans.
In the opinion of informants the phratries formed exogamous
groups, exogamy later shifting to the individual clans as the phratry
organization disintegrated. The clans comprising a phratry were
considered kin, with each group having an amacoli- clan (one that
was an "elder," either "uncle" or "older brother") (cf. Haas, 1939,
pp. 597-610). However, on two occasions I was told that the clans
forming a phratry were "related" only until noon, and that after
mid-day they were no longer kin and their members could inter-
marry; this sounds very much like a rationalization following the
breakdown of phratry exogamy, though it may also indicate that
phratry exogamy was never complete.
Although the clan lost to the Nation some of its functions, such
as punishment for murder, and gradually became impotent, for a
number of years it continued to be of fundamental importance.
Members of the same clan could not marry, regardless of town
affiliation, while the clan continued to function in the education of
children and young people, in promoting and maintaining marriages,
in the punishment for incest and adultery, as a basis underlying
behavior patterns among kin, in the ownership and inheritance of
property, and in ritual and ceremony. These facets of the clan
organization will be discussed in the following pages.
THE HOUSEHOLD
The households formed the component units of a Seminole town.
They were individual food-producing and consuming groups, each
54 Kinship System of Seminole
consisting of a man and his wife, their children, occasionally some
old people, and perhaps for a temporary period the husband of a
newly married daughter. The composition of the household was
thus centered around a single elementary family. In Florida today
the household is an extended family group whose core consists of a
matrilineal lineage; assuming that the Florida situation represents
an older condition formerly obtaining among all Seminole, it follows
that among the Oklahoma division the extended family has broken
down into elementary family groups. The change apparently was
an early one, for my informants did not remember it, though a
clue to the former condition is found in the use of a word cokohami-ca
("family of one house"), to designate a matrilineal lineage. The
oldest woman of the lineage was head of the lineage; men remained
in the cokohami-ca even when they married, though their wives and
children belonged to a different cokohami-ca. Also, it should be
noted that a man used the word ihoti ("home") only for the home
of his sister (formerly by extension of the kinship system this in-
cluded the homes of all women called "sister"). His actual residence
he called inleykita ("place of dwelling").
The household group lived in a simple log cabin, a few of which
had an outhouse or two nearby to store the winter supply of food.
Adjacent to the cabin was an open-sided, flat-topped arbor that
served as adequate shelter during the summer months, and under
this the family spent considerable time during the warmer season.
Near every house stood a heavy wooden mortar and pestle, the
constant companion of the housewife and one element of material
culture that has hung on tenaciously to the present day. In the
small clearing surrounding the house there was also to be seen an
open fireplace and next to it a large iron pot for making soap and
washing clothes.
Within the family group there was a distinct division of labor
between men and women. The former did the heavy work of split-
ting rails, cutting wood, making and mending fences, clearing fields,
ploughing, building the log houses, and improving the few roads
that ran through the Nation. In their new environment in Oklahoma,
the men continued to spend a large amount of time hunting, partic-
ularly during the fall, when parties would venture out in search of
deer to provide meat for the winter. During the cold months and
at odd times throughout the year the men went after smaller game
such as wild turkey, coons, and rabbits, while the well-stocked
streams provided a welcome addition of fresh fish. As the game
was gradually exterminated, the men spent a proportionately larger
Kinship System of Oklahoma Seminole 55
time loafing, though caring for the domestic stock became a partial
substitute for hunting, each family generally possessing some
hogs, a few chickens, and a number of horses and cattle. The
hogs and cattle ran on open range, though there were some fenced
pastures. With some exceptions the men never became interested in
farming, beyond supplying their immediate needs. In this respect
the Indians have proved less adaptable than the Negro freedmen,
who are still predominantly rural and who have made some success
at agriculture.
To the women fell the task of cultivating the small fields, of
grinding corn and preparing all the food, of taking care of the house
and looking after the small children, and, in the early days, of making
a certain amount of clothing from the skins of animals brought in
by the men. Pottery-making and weaving disappeared at an early
date and were well on the decline before the removal of the Seminole
to Oklahoma. Nowadays the Indians are almost devoid of handi-
crafts, though the women make a considerable number of quilts
and do a little bead-work.
Kinship Terminology
the terminological system
The terminology of kinship is given in the accompanying charts
(Figs. 2-5) and table. The system was a logical and consistent one,
and though it is greatly restricted in its range at the present time,
the application of terms has not changed from the pattern shown.
The Seminole system conformed to a Crow type, with all descendants
of the father's sister through females classed as "little fathers" and
' 'grandmothers, ' ' irrespective of generation differences. The mother's
brother's children were classed with the generation below as "sons"
and "daughters." A distinction between real and classificatory
parents was made by adding a diminutive to the stem of the term
for "father" or "mother." Children of "little fathers" were always
classed as siblings. Both men and women separated older and
younger siblings of the same sex, but grouped those of opposite sex
under one term. Grandparents on both mother's and father's side
were grouped under two terms, "grandfather" and "grandmother,"
which could also be applied to any old person of the second
ascending generation as a mark of respect. There was one term
for "grandchild." A man classed his wife's sister, brother's
wife, mother's brother's wife, and sister's son's wife under a
single term.
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60 Kinship System of Seminole
Certain supplementary terms were to be found in common usage
and are listed below:
iticdkkiyal. This was a covering term for sibling and referred to either a
brother or a sister, real or classificatory, and irrespective of sex.
ancipdnat. This term was sometimes used by a man to denote a classi-
ficatory rather than a real son, though there was some variation in usage
with different individuals. My interpreter, Wesley Tanyan, always used
this term in referring to a classificatory son. The term was also used in
a more general sense to mean "boy."
amacoli- (pi., amacoldki). "Elder" is the closest English equivalent. The
word was further restricted in usage to an older man in ego's clan. When
a man spoke of amacoldki, he was referring to his clan elders, who in former
times were an extremely influential group. The word was thus an alterna-
tive for "uncle" and was often used in this way. It also had other meanings
in different contexts. A man making a speech, for instance, might stress
the importance of following the tried and true ways of the forefathers
of the Seminole. For "forefather," however, he would use amacoldki,
meaning the deceased elders of all the Seminole clans.
canahdmki. This referred to "one of my own clan."
caseyca. An archaic term used as an alternative for "little father." The
term is in common use in Florida today.
Seminole (Muskogee) Kinship Terms
English term Seminole term
Man speaking:
father cdlki
mother cdcki
little father calkoci
little mother cackoci
grandfather capocd
grandmother caposi
big grandfather capocaldkko
uncle capdwa
older brother caldha
younger brother cacosi
sister ca-wdnwa
son cappoci
daughter caccosti
nephew anhopoywa
niece anhakpati
grandchild amososwa
wife caheywa
sister-in-law cahacawd
brother-in-law (wife's brother) arjkapoci
brother-in-law (sister's husband) ancokowdkki
father-in-law ammdhi
mother-in-law anhoktdlwa
child-in-law anhatisi
Woman speaking:
brother cacilwa
older sister caldha
younger sister cacosi
child caccoswa
little child caccosoci
husband cdhi
Kinship System of Oklahoma Seminole 61
vocative terms
With the exceptions noted below, my informants gave me the
same forms for the vocative as the non-vocative terms, except that
they tended to omit the possessive prefix in the case of the former.
The exceptions are:
father: antata or lata
"little father": antatoci or tatoci
mother: amwaci or wad
"little mother": amwaco-ci
The use of these terms in direct address is interesting, as they
correspond to the non-vocative forms in Hitchiti (Mikasuki and
Hitchiti towns spoke Hitchiti rather than Muskogee proper). Actu-
ally however, most of my informants used ma-ma9 (from English)
for mother and added a Muskogee diminutive for "little mother,"
thus forming the term ma-moci9. The native vocative term for
father has hung on more persistently, though today children use
pa-pa2 (from English) and add the Muskogee diminutive for the
father's brother to form the term pa-poci9. On the whole, I believe
the older use of Hitchiti terms and the more recent use of English
terms as vocative forms indicate that the vocative terminology is
more sensitive to foreign influences and more susceptible to change
than is the referential terminology.
Certain other vocative terms should be noted. Anci-pa-na-t and
anhokti- or anhoktoci were generally used for boys and young men
and for girls and young women respectively. The term amac6-la-t
was commonly applied to older male relatives and also to old men
not related. Spouses never used the referential terms in direct
address; instead each called the other ampalsi, or the man called
his wife anhoktd-la-t and she called him amac6-la-t.
Personal names were not used in direct address, except for the
"house names" of children.
RANGE OF THE TERMINOLOGICAL SYSTEM
In describing the range of relatives covered by the kinship
terminology, I shall resort to a series of diagrams (pp. 62-71), as
the extensions of the kinship terms were for the most part based
squarely on the clan and lend themselves to diagrammatic
description. Though diagrams sometimes complicate rather than
simplify the exposition of a subject, I believe that in the present
case they are useful in making clear the extension of Seminole
kinship terms.
EXPLANATION OF FIGURE 6
Figure 6 shows the extension of terms to the members of ego's clan, all of whom
were considered kin. The clan membership is represented by the rectangle en-
closed by solid black lines; this area is divided vertically on the basis of sex and
horizontally on that of generation. The areas enclosed by dotted lines at the left
and right sides of the rectangle represent persons (other than ego's wife and her
kin) married to members of ego's clan and hence related to him through clan-
mates.
We may first consider in detail the members of ego's clan. All males of the
same generation were either "older brothers" or "younger brothers," while all
females of this generation were classed together as "sisters." In the first ascending
generation the men were all "uncles" and the women "little mothers," except
that ego omitted the diminutive in speaking of his own mother. The old people
of the second ascending generation were either "grandfathers" or "grandmothers."
The "uncles" and "grandfathers" together formed ego's clan elders (amacoldki).
In the first descending generation the males were "nephews" and the females
"nieces," while in the second descending generation all were "grandchildren."
In this classification the distinction between generations received full recogni-
tion. Likewise, the sex difference was used as a criterion throughout, except
for the second descending generation, where both sexes were grouped together
under a single term. With this latter exception sex and generation were both
given the fullest possible expression in the terminological classification of ego's
clan kin.
There remains the body of kinfolk to whom ego traced a relationship by virtue
of their having married members of his clan. Anyone married to any person in
ego's clan fell in this category. In the diagram I have shown these kin as a sort
of appendage to ego's clan, which is precisely what they were. As the clan was
a strictly exogamous unit, these latter came from various of the other different
clans represented in the tribe. Women married to ego's clan "uncles," "brothers,"
and "nephews" were all classed as cahacawd, the nearest English equivalent being
"sister-in-law." Under the working of the levirate all these cahacawd were potential
spouses, kinship terminology thus being closely adjusted to a type of prescribed
marriage. The wives of clan "grandfathers" were all "grandmothers," and like-
wise the husbands of all clan "grandmothers" were called "grandfathers." In
the first ascending generation the husbands of "little mothers" were always
"little fathers." The husband of a "sister" or a "niece" was called ancokowdkki
("he who sleeps in my house"), while the spouse of a grandchild was referred to
as anhatlsi, the same term that was used for child-in-law.
Although ego recognized a relationship to persons married to members of his
own clan, he did not extend such recognition to any kinfolk of these persons.
Thus the mother's brother's wife fell within the range of the terminology, but
her kin did not. At this point the limit of the range of the terminological system
was reached and a whole body of possible affinal relatives excluded from the system.
It is largely for this reason that men and women attached by marriage to ego's
clan appear as kinship appendages to the clan.
62
o E
E £
■grond-
.mother
EGO'S clan II S
jj
jchild-
■ in-law
grand-
father
grand-
mother
uncle
little
mother
o. bro.
y. bro.
sis.
neph.
niece
grandchild
grand-' „ . ..
father' 2 n<1 ascend|ng generation
17tt7e
father1 ' s* ascending generation
"1
>| | EGO'S generation (EGO is male)
| I
1st descending generation
—5—1
child- 1 _ .
in-low 2nd descending generation
Fig. 6. Oklahoma Seminole kinship extensions.
EXPLANATION OF FIGURE 7
Figure 7 carries the analysis a step further to include two additional groups of
kin. The first comprised the father's clan, all of whom fell within the range of
the system. All men of this clan were "little fathers," except that ego did not use
the diminutive form for his own father. All women of the father's clan were
"grandmothers." The wives of the men of the father's clan were "little mothers,"
and the husbands of the women were "grandfathers." As in the case of ego's
clan, the system did not include the kinfolk of persons married to members of the
father's clan.
The second group consisted of persons whose fathers belonged to the same
clan as did ego's father. All persons whose fathers belonged to the same clan were
siblings and called one another "brother" or "sister." For example, all offspring
of men of the Bear clan were looked on as Bear "children." The "children"
naturally belonged to different clans, but because the fathers were of one clan the
children were "brothers and sisters" (iticd-kkiya-t). Likewise, the spouses of these
brothers and sisters were either cahacaivd or ancokowdkki, depending on their sex,
while the terminology did not extend to the kin of these latter.
With these two groups of kin it is obvious that the basis of classification was
sex and that generation was disregarded. The statement requires some modifica-
tion, in that a generation distinction did creep in with the use of "grandfather"
and "grandmother" as possible alternative terms to express respect for any old
person of the second ascending generation. This has been omitted in Figure 7.
How frequent the usage was I do not know, though in Figure 2 I have designated
the father's mother's brother as "grandfather." This is certainly correct, and
I suspect there may have been some slight difference in usage for direct blood
relations and classificatory kin. In any case the use of the grandfather and
grandmother terms in this way introduces some qualification to the statement
that sex rather than generation formed the basis of terminological classification
of the two groups here examined. However, a man referred collectively to the
men of his father's clan as my "fathers," and to other "children" of his father's
clan as my "siblings," regardless of age differences.
64
father's clon
EGO'S clan
(EGO is male)
other 'children* of
father's clan
Fig. 7. Oklahoma Seminole kinship extensions.
65
EXPLANATION OF FIGURE 8
The next two groups to be considered are the clans of the father's father and
the mother's father. In Figure 8 I have grouped them together, as the same
terminology was extended to both these bodies of kin. The father's father, the
mother's father and their blood brothers were called capocd ("grandfather") and
their sisters caposi ("grandmother"), but the remaining members of the two clans
were called capoca-ldkko ("big grandfather"), regardless of sex or age. Thus,
both the sex and generation criteria were ignored and the character of the
genealogical relationship between ego and these two clan groups became the
sole basis for terminological classification. The spouses of capoca-ldkko were
called either "grandfather" or "grandmother," depending on their sex; their
kinfolk did not come within the range of the system.
father's father's clan
mother's father's clan!
father's clan
EGO'S clan
(EGO is male)
ichild"-
iin-low
r~
1
1 >o
. *
o.bro.
1
1 1
1 o
1 o
■ c
1 a
1 o
y. bro.
sis.
S i
S 1
g 1
1
«__
[other "children" of
father's clon
Fig. 8. Oklahoma Seminole kinship extensions.
67
EXPLANATION OF FIGURE 9
Figure 9 extends the analysis downward. The first group comprises all
persons whose fathers belonged to ego's clan. Such people were known as
the "children" of ego's clan and were called either "sons" or "daughters." As in the
case of the father's clan, the statement needs qualification. Examination of the
genealogical chart (Fig. 2) shows that the children of those "nephews" belonging
to ego's clan were called "grandchild." The latter in turn called ego "grandfather."
Where an actual genealogical relation could not be determined, I gained the
impression that this usage was an alternative to that shown in the diagram. In
any case, all those whose fathers belonged to ego's clan were known collectively
as the clan "sons" and "daughters." The spouses of these were all classed together
as "children-in-law"; their kinfolk were not included within the range of the
system.
The second group were the "grandchildren" of ego's clan, that is, all those
whose father's father or mother's father belonged to ego's clan. No distinction
of sex or generation was made and all were referred to as "grandchildren." Their
spouses were "children-in-law"; the kin of these fell outside the range of the system.
Old individuals of the second ascending generation in both these groups
might also be called "grandfather" or "grandmother" as a mark of respect.
68
father* father's clan
mother's father's clan
father's clon
EGO'S clan
(E60 is male)
*children"of
EGO'S clon
'grandchildren* of
EGO'S clan
grand-
Imothe
L__
r~~
little
|mother
I
'grand -
[mother
[child -
big
grandfather
little
fother
grand-
father
o.bro.
y. bro.
grand-,
father
__J
grand-
mother
grand-]
father
-_J
grand-
mother
little
mother
neph. niece
granchild
I
I
chi Id -
in-law
I
grand-,
father.
Tittle,
father!
-2- -|
child-l
in-lawl
daught
child-)
in-law |
..J
grandchild
child-
in-law
I
r ~
i
i
i
1 ,
II
1 s
1 •
o. bro.
y.bro.
sis.
1
1
■= I
__J
other 'children" of
father's clon
Fig. 9. Oklahoma Seminole kinship extensions.
69
EXPLANATION OF FIGURE 10
Figure 10 shows the same schematic classification of kin as Figure 9, except
that ego is female. Women made a sibling distinction consistent with the difference
in sex. They also classed together all children of clan sisters as "little child," while
the children of clan brothers were referred to as "grandchildren."
70
father's father's clan I
mother's father's clan
father's clan
EGO'S clan
(EGO is female)
children of
EGO'S clan
child-
in-law
L_
grandchild
'grandchildren'of
EGO'S clon
child-
in-law
L__
child-
in-low
—J
grandchild
— J
1
1
1 *
o
bro.
O.SIS.
'O 1
4
1 £
y.sis.
o 1
o
o 1
° 1
o ■
1
. .1
other 'children* of
father's clon
Fig. 10. Oklahoma Seminole kinship extensions.
71
72 Kinship System of Seminole
Certain relatives falling within the range of the terminology
have not been included in the foregoing diagrams (Figs. 6-10).
These relatives are:
1. Children of the father's father's clan brothers and the mother's
father's clan brothers.
2. Descendants of those "brothers" and "sisters" not belonging
to ego's clan.
3. Great-grandchildren of clan "uncles."
I am frankly doubtful as to the social importance of relations of
the above classes of persons. Where an actual genealogical relation-
ship could be traced, the kinship tie was probably of more conse-
quence than when no such blood bond was to be ascertained. In
any case, most of the relatives noted fell toward the peripheries
of the range of the terminological system and were brought within
the limits of the system simply by the logical extension of the
terminology. The groups of kin who, in the minds of my informants,
were of real social importance are those shown in the diagrams.
We may next consider the extension of kinship terms to the
relatives of the spouse.
A. When ego was male, the extension was as follows:
Wife's clan. The wife's sisters and all women of her age were cahacawd.
The wife's brothers and uncles were all aykap6ci. The wife's mother and
all women of her age were "mothers-in-law" (anhoktdlwa) . Old people
of the second ascending generation were "grandfather" and "grand-
mother." The children of cahacawd were "sons" and "daughters," and
children of the latter were "grandchildren."
Wife's father's clan. All men were "father-in-law" (ammd-hi) and all women
were "mother-in-law," except that very old people could also be called
"grandfather" or "grandmother."
"Children" of wife's clan. These included all those whose fathers belonged
to the wife's clan. These persons were all "grandchildren."
B. When ego was female, the extension was as follows:
Husband's clan. The husband's sisters and all women of her age, the husband's
brothers and all men of his age, and the husband's clan "uncles,"
"nephews," and "nieces" were all called cahacawd. The husband's mother
and all women of her age were "mothers-in-law" (anhoktdlwa). Old people
were "grandfather" or "grandmother"; those of the second descending
generation were "grandchildren."
Husband's father's clan. All men were "father-in-law" (ammd-hi) and all
women were "mother-in-law," except that very old people could also be
called "grandfather" or "grandmother."
"Children" of husband's clan. These included all those whose fathers belonged
to the husband's clan. These persons were all "little child."
Kinship System of Oklahoma Seminole 73
kinship terminology and the town
The kinship terminology was theoretically not restricted by town
affiliation. If I belonged to the Bear clan and lived in Mikasuki
town, men in the Bear clan at Liwahili who were my own age were
my "brothers" and older men my "uncles." Consequently, when
two strangers from different towns met, one of the first subjects
discussed was the clan affiliation of each, or of their fathers, or, if
no relation was forthcoming, of their fathers' fathers or mothers'
fathers. In such situations, where the range of the terminology
was tested, recourse was generally had to clan affiliation in an
attempt to find a common bond.
PRINCIPLES OF TERMINOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION
Certain principles of classification were embodied in the termi-
nological structure of the Seminole kinship system. The more
important of these are as follows:
Merging of lineal and collateral relatives. — The Seminole system
was classificatory in its merging of the father and his brothers on one
hand and of the mother and her sisters on the other. A distinction
was made, however, between real and classificatory parents by the
use of the diminutive for the latter. Also, a woman used the diminu-
tive to distinguish her classificatory from her real children.
Reciprocity. — The use of identical terms occurred only between
those affinal kin calling each other cahacawa. Otherwise, identical
terms between relatives were not used. Each term, however, had
its complementary reciprocal, thereby giving expression to a series
of paired relationships and imparting to the kinship system a
definite logic and consistency. The significance of these relation-
ships will be elucidated further in the discussion of kinship behavior.
The lineage principle. — To a large extent the Seminole kinship
system was built on the recognition of lineage as an organizing
principle. With consanguineal kin four lineages were recognized:
the mother's lineage, which was also that of ego, the father's lineage,
the father's father's lineage, and the mother's father's lineage. The
terminology for the father's father's and mother's father's lineages
was identical. The manner of classifying the relatives of each of
these four lineages was expanded to include all the members of their
respective clans. Thus the clan became a basic feature of the system,
a fact which I have attempted to bring out in diagrammatic fashion
in Figures 6-10. From these diagrams it is apparent that termi-
nological classification coincided with clan lines for ego's clan and
74 Kinship System of Seminole
for his father's, father's father's, and mother's father's clans. For
other consanguineal relatives the classification over-rode clan lines
in that persons from different clans were grouped together. This
did not mean that the relation between terminology and the clan
broke down, however — far from it. It was merely that to determine
the classification of relatives in his mother's, father's, father's
father's, and mother's father's clans ego relied on his clan relation
to them, while for the other consanguineal kin he relied on their
relation to the four clans named. The clan remained as a funda-
mental— and in actual practice a very convenient — means of classi-
fying relatives.
Sex and generation. — Again I shall refer to Figures 9 and 10.
Beginning with ego's clan, we see that with the exception of the
second descending generation when ego was male and of both
first and second descending generations when ego was female, sex
was given the fullest possible recognition in classifying relatives.
Generation differences were accorded even greater recognition, five
different generations being distinguished, with separate terms for
older and younger siblings of the same sex in addition. It is with
ego's clan that the division on the basis of age and sex was carried
furthest.
With (1) the father's clan, (2) classificatory siblings whose
fathers belonged to ego's father's clan, and (3) "children" of ego's
clan, the generation criterion virtually dropped out and sex became
the chief basis of classification, except for the possible alternative
use of grandparent-grandchild terms in relationships demanding
respect for age.
With the father's father's and mother's father's clans sex was
disregarded except for the use of "grandfather" and "grandmother"
for the grandparents and their own brothers and sisters; generation
was also ignored, even though the term used for all members of these
clans ("big grandfather") was derived from a generational context.
Likewise the "grandchildren" of ego's clan were all called "grand-
child" though they might have been of either sex or any age. There-
fore, as we pass upward, downward, and outward from ego's clan
we find that first generation and then sex were given less complete
expression as criteria for classification. On the other hand, lineage
tended relatively to enter more strongly, with the consequent over-
riding of generation that is the prominent feature of Omaha and
Crow type systems. The same thing was true of the classification
of the spouse's relatives.
Kinship System of Oklahoma Seminole 75
Kinship Behavior
In outlining the kinship behavior of the Oklahoma Seminole,
I have emphasized the categories of respect and familiarity. How-
ever, I have attempted to qualify these terms in referring to specific
relations in order to avoid forcing the description into unnatural
channels. Though I feel that it is very doubtful that the respect-
familiarity continuum is an adequate device for describing the
varieties of kinship behavior, its utility has been demonstrated and
in the present study it has proven of value.
The following description is also weighted in favor of formalized
patterns of behavior. These patterns were explicit in the native
mind and have consequently survived in native memory, while a
number of them may be observed in weakened form today. The
informal and more amorphous type of kinship behavior is difficult
enough to describe when actually observed, but is much more so
when only bits and snatches of it can be grasped through conversa-
tion with elderly informants. In the following discussion I have
indicated those relations for which I did not obtain conclusive
evidence as to the type of behavior involved.
the family
Siblings. — Between children of the same parents the relation
was one of informality and lack of constraint, subject to differences
of sex and age. Brothers joked with each other and sisters might
joke among themselves, but this familiarity was restrained between
brothers and sisters. Brothers and sisters did not joke with each
other on sexual matters or on those with an obscene reference.
After reaching the age of eight or ten years, children of opposite
sex tended to keep to themselves and there was a gradual decrease
in the extent to which the two sexes tended to associate with one
another. Boys and girls began at this time to learn the tasks of
adulthood and as these were generally taught them by members
of their own sex, the decrease in contact was related to the sexual
division of labor. The difference of age affected the relations of
siblings in that on occasion a younger brother was expected to obey
his older brother and a younger sister her older sister; thus, when
the parents were not with them, the older children were made
responsible for the safety and conduct of the younger ones and a
certain amount of respect was consequently demanded of a younger
sibling toward an older one. Maintenance of this respect in adult
years apparently depended on the personality of the older sibling.
76 Kinship System of Seminole
Parents-children. — Children were supposed to respect and obey
their parents. This was particularly true of the father, to whom a
son or daughter observed conduct of strictest respect with an
absolute prohibition on joking. In the intimacy of his home, a
father on rare occasions might mildly tease his children, but very
infrequently. The character of this relation was not altered as the
children reached maturity, but obtained throughout the lifetime of
the persons concerned.
A child was not supposed to tease, make fun of, or joke with
his or her mother. To do so indicated a lack of respect, and a child's
behavior toward the mother fell into the respect category. The
avoidance of familiarity continued after the child had grown to
adulthood. A mother, on the other hand, was free to tease her
children. A favorite form of joking on the part of the mother toward
her son was, "I'll give you my grandmother [a woman of her father's
clan] to marry," after the boy had finished some small task for her.
Or she would call him "grandfather," implying that he already had
married a woman in her father's clan.
Within the family it was the father's business to take care of
the boys, the mother's to look after the girls. However, young
children were generally under the mother's care. They were early
taught the essentials of good manners, such as not interfering in
the discussions of adults and leaving the presence of their parents
when visitors came to call. On the whole, the upbringing of children
was rather strict. Though the mother might punish young children
by an occasional use of a switch, the father never attempted any
form of punishment. The enforcement of discipline was funda-
mentally in the hands of the mother's brother.
Husband-wife. — The behavior between spouses depended largely
on their respective personalities. Each had his or her duties to
perform according to the traditional division of labor. They were
expected to take care of each other and of their children. When
a husband had male visitors, the wife generally left them to them-
selves; if she were present she reserved whatever opinion she might
have on a subject under discussion until the men had expressed
themselves. Men and women seldom ate together, the men eating
first and the women afterwards.
The mother's brother and the sister's children. — After a brother
and his sister reached maturity, married, and established familic
of their own, the relationship between them nevertheless continuec
as a very close one. The settlements were small and the familie
Kinship System of Oklahoma Seminole 77
comprising it were easily accessible to one another. A brother con-
sidered his sister's house "just like his own." He might come and
stay for a day or so, do odd jobs about the house, and help his sister
in various ways, at the same time expecting that he would be fed.
Furthermore, to the mother's brother fell the task of disciplining his
sister's children and of impressing on them the importance of proper
conduct and behavior. Punishment was by scratching the forearms
and legs with a needle. In this the father had no part and it was
the mother's brother who scratched disobedient and wayward
children. The attitude of the sister's children toward the mother's
brother was one of considerable respect. One did not joke with his
mother's brother or indulge in any familiarity that might bring a
scratch in its wake. On the contrary, a boy or a girl was usually
"a little afraid of cap&wa," with his harness needles in his pocket
or stuck all too visibly in his shirt or coat, and with his usual query
of the parents on his arrival in the house, "How are the children
behaving?" Yet the mother's brother was not to be construed as
a tyrant, for the welfare of his nieces and nephews was of great
importance to him. If they were ill, he made certain that they were
given proper treatment; as they became older he was on the constant
lookout for suitable wives and husbands; when they finally married
the success of the marriage remained his concern. And though his
sister's children did not joke with him, he was at liberty to tease
them if he wished. "The way you look at my wife, one would think
you are going to make her your own," he might say in jest to his
nephew when the latter was paying him a visit.
Where the old patterns of behavior have broken down to the
extent they have among the Seminole and where the local organiza-
tion has been so badly disrupted, it is very difficult to evaluate
the importance of the brother-sister tie as against that between
husband and wife. Divorce statistics are very difficult to get, but
on the relations of the mother's brother to his sister's family one
further impression may be set down. The mother's brother should
not be construed as taking the place of the father. On the contrary,
in a way he strengthened the position of the father, for the imposition
of punishment was shifted out of the sphere of the elementary family.
The parents had a much easier time of it as a consequence; when
their children were misbehaving, they called in the mother's brother,
who lectured the youngsters on obeying their parents, punished
them, and hence saw to it that the parent's teachings, as well as his
own, were followed. "One word, and a child obeyed," the old women
say, in comparing the past with the present. It was particularly
78 Kinship System of Seminole
in the sphere of moral conduct that the influence of the mother's
brother was effective. On the other hand, much of the manual
skill involved in hunting, fishing, and the like was taught a boy
by his father, and the latter generally retained an important place
in the education of his children.
The pattern of behavior between the sister's children and the
mother's brother was extended to all men in the mother's clan of
his generation or older. Furthermore, every clan had a number of
elders who gave advice on clan matters, while the oldest and most
influential of these was the clan amacoli-, or elder for the clan as
a whole. These old men maintained a general interest in all the
young people of the clan and a particular interest in the nephews
and nieces to whom they were most closely related by blood. Thus
a boy or girl usually had a number of older men of the same clan
interested in his or her education and welfare, some of whom were
of the grandparental generation. Toward all of them a respect
relation was maintained; collectively they were referred to as
amacoldki.
This relation between the clan elders, particularly the mother's
brother, and the young people of the clan is illuminated by the
following statement of an elderly Seminole:
The one they called amacoli- was my uncle (mother's brother) or the
brother of my uncle. It also meant my elder. In the clan the oldest man
was amacoli- for the clan. But a man older than I in the clan was also my
amacoli-.
The young people always obeyed the one they called amacoli- and always
did what he told them to do. They believed that whatever he said was
right. They always looked up to him for advice. And the amacoli- depended
on his young people; in time of need he always called on them. He knew
they would help him more than anyone else would.
The youngsters loved their amacoli- and looked out for him. Whenever
he visited where children were, their mother would ask him to give a talk
to the boys and girls. He would tell them they must honor and respect their
parents and the older people as well. Some did not obey their parents but
people had nothing to do with such children. The amacoli- said always to
help others even if they weren't kin. If you were helpful the people would
say, "That boy is a fine lad." But if the youngsters didn't mind their parents
they would get scratched. So if the parents told amacoli- that the children
were not obeying them, he would scratch them.
If a young man were going to marry, the amacoldki would get together
and tell him how to treat his wife. He must take good care of her and respect
her. And the same way with the girl; she must be obedient to her husband
and must not try to rule him. If a man wanted to ask for a girl, her amacoldki
must be asked. It was always left up to them. And the girl must marry whom
amacoli- said she should, even if that person were an old man.
Old people knew the ways (particularly magic) so they were always
respected. We do not mean educated the way white people are, but in
Indian ways. Old people taught young men and women how to take care of
themselves so they would not suffer (magic, medicine, right conduct).
Kinship System of Oklahoma Seminole 79
The amacoli- wanted the old ways; he didn't want them changed. So he
always told the young people to uphold old Indian customs. They must
not forget, but remember what amacoldki said.
Now it is all different.
Grandparents-grandchildren. — The behavior of boys and girls,
men or women, toward their grandparents was one of respect and
helpfulness. Old people generally were looked to for advice and
counsel in Seminole society and the respect behavior of young to
old was a marked one in the grandparent-grandchild relation.
Grandchildren were taught never to make fun of their grandparents,
but always to be attentive, reverent, and obedient to them. On
their part grandparents, with the exception of the paternal grand-
mother, were free to tease or mildly joke their grandchildren if they
wished to. The welfare of their grandchildren was of considerable
concern to them, and the youngsters apparently depended on them
as a sort of buffer against harsh treatment on the part of the parents
or uncles. However, I was told that a grandfather could also
occasionally scratch a child in punishment for wrong-doing. If in
their opinion the children were not being properly cared for, the
grandparents were among the first to tell the parents to improve
matters.
KINSHIP BEHAVIOR AND THE CLAN
The discussion of kinship behavior has so far been concerned
primarily with relationships centering in the family group. The
character of behavior among other types of consanguineal kin can
best be described with reference to certain general rules based on
clan affiliation. We shift attention therefore from the family to
the clan.
Relations within the clan. — Behavior within the clan tended to
crystallize on generation lines. Among those of the same generation
calling each other by sibling terms the relation was one of familiarity,
such as that described for children of the same parents. There was
a definite feeling of solidarity among the members of one clan and
this seemed to have been particularly true of those of the same
generation, among whom an easy informality apparently prevailed.
As for those in the ascending generations, I have already indicated
the character of the relation between the mother's brother and
his sister's children and the extension of this type of behavior to
men of both the first and second ascending generations. The
behavior between the mother's sister and her sister's children was
largely an extension of the mother-child pattern; one was expected
80 Kinship System of Seminole
to obey and respect one's "little mother," though she might tease
her "little child." With other "little mothers" in the clan it was
much the same, and with women of the second ascending generation
a like type of behavior prevailed. Within the clan, therefore, the
patterns seemed to have been: familiarity within the same genera-
tion; respect to ascending generations; and a sort of optional mild
familiarity to descending generations.
The father's clan. — Between a given clan and all the sons and
daughters of men belonging to that clan a strict respect relation
prevailed, with a prohibition on any kind of joking. This was one
of the strongest and most sharply defined patterns of behavior in
Seminole society and has persisted to the present day. It was the
obligation of each of these groups of kin to (1) help and be respectful
in manner to each other, and particularly to (2) protect members of
the opposite group from ridicule and belittlement. Thus a man
or woman was supposed never to make fun of, joke with, or tease
anyone in the father's clan, no matter how young or old the latter
might be. On their part the members of the father's clan observed
the same kind of behavior to the clan "children" — that is, the sons
and daughters of men in the clan. The respect behavior described
as holding true in the father-child relation was accordingly extended
to the father's brother and all males in the father's clan (all of whom
were "little fathers") and to the father's sister and all females in
this clan (all of whom were "grandmothers"). It should be noted
that the paternal grandmother, being in the father's clan, did not
tease or show familiarity to her son's children.
Curiously enough the respect toward the father's clan was
extended to the father's clan totem also. Towards the totem of
one's own clan I discovered no particular attitude of respect and
no very well-defined attitude at all, for that matter. But the
totem of the father's clan was not to be treated or spoken of disre-
spectfully. One or two informants even said that the father's totem
should not be killed, but I doubt very much that this was ever
followed in practice. Certainly a man did not hesitate to hunt
deer because his father belonged to the Deer clan. But if one did
kill his father's totem animal he was careful about the disposition
of the carcass. When I was in Oklahoma a man was censured for
tying a skunk he had killed to a tree and letting it hang there until
decomposed. The man's father belonged to the Skunk clan
and it was felt that the Skunk clan's "son" had been disrespectful
to his father's clan in the way he had disposed of the animal's body.
Kinship System of Oklahoma Seminole 81
However, what gave the respect relation to the father's clan a
really distinctive cast was the negative sanction applied to those
who failed to observe the traditional rule of behavior. If anyone
made fun of his father's clan or one of its members or was otherwise
not properly respectful, the other clan "children" — those whose
fathers belonged to this clan — seized some personal possession of
the offender, such as a hat, a scarf, or in serious cases even a saddle,
and held it for ransom, this being exacted by way of a fine for the
offense. The fine was then divided among the clan "children" who
had seized the article; if the fine was not paid they kept the article.
Women were said to have been particularly touchy about seeing
that due respect was paid their father's clan and to have been
especially active in applying the sanction to negligent persons.
However, if a possession of someone were seized because he had
been disrespectful to his father's clan and if the incident occurred
in the presence of a member of the injured clan, I was told that the
latter might pardon the offender if he wished, thereby annulling the
need for payment of the fine; yet apparently this was not a usual
practice.
Theoretically the same negative sanction was applied by members
of a single clan to one of their number who had been disrespectful
to a clan "child." I did not hear of an instance where the sanction
was actually applied, however, and the cases of which I learned
involved disrespect in the other direction — that of clan "child" to
the father's clan.
Although the relation between the father's clan and the children
of the clan was one of respect, it was also apparently used as a sort
of foil in joking. Thus two members of the Bear clan might inten-
tionally make fun of a third member of the Bear clan (all being of
the same generation) in the hope of getting a rise out of a Bear
"son" standing nearby. If the latter took no notice, the incident
would soon reach the ears of other Bear "sons" and "daughters,"
who would take him to task for not standing up for the ridiculed
Bear. On the other hand, if the Bear "son" defended the member
of his father's clan who was being ridiculed, the other Bears had
achieved their purpose and were much amused. Or again, a Bear
"son" might tell a joke on a member of his father's clan, but couch
the language in such respectful terms that only a clever person
would realize what was intended; actually, this could still get the
story-teller into trouble of course. However, these examples indicate
the possibilities of this type of Indian humor, whose nuances were
many and varied. I observed a number of such instances and was
82 Kinship System of Seminole
told that it was true in the olden days as well, so presumably it was
not a very recent innovation.
Sons and daughters of the father's clan. — In the preceding discus-
sion of behavior, those persons classed as siblings were all of the same
clan and generation. However, sibling terms were also used among
those whose fathers belonged to the same clan; this type of sibling
obviously came from different clans and might be of any age. Theo-
retically the behavior among them was one of familiarity similar
to that holding in the case of other siblings, though where age
differences were marked such familiarity was apparently restrained
and tempered by the difference in generation. This modification
of familiarity through distinction in generation, which ordinarily
demanded respect of young to old, proved to be a very difficult
matter to investigate and one on which my data are not fully con-
clusive. In the case of those whose fathers belonged to the same
clan the degree of respect for old persons was probably an intensifi-
cation of the attitude of younger to older siblings.
Father's father's and mother's father's clans. — Between the father's
father's and mother's father's clans on one hand and all those whose
paternal or maternal grandfathers belonged to these clans on the
other the relation was one of familiarity. This familiarity was
restrained where age differences were very marked. Ego did not
joke with his own grandfathers and was rather careful about his
conduct with other old people in these clans, but as he approached
maturity he joked a good deal with other members, particularly
those his own age, who were all his "big grandfathers." There was
no restriction on jokes with an obscene reference, even between
those of opposite sex. A man or woman was perfectly free to marry
into the clan of his father's father or mother's father, though I
found no evidence that he or she was advised to do so, nor any con-
clusive evidence for preferential mating with these clans. However,
the joking relation and its similarity to Cherokee practice suggests
that this may once have been the case (cf. Gilbert, 1937, pp. 310-314).
LINEAGE, GENERATION, AND BEHAVIOR
The foregoing remarks may be summarized in a form similar to
that used in the preceding section on terminology. Figure 11 shows
again the socially most important groups of consanguineal kin, other
than ego's own clan-mates. I have already described how lineage
entered into the terminological classification of these groups, which
themselves were based on the clan organization, and I discussed
/
GROUP HI
FATHER'S FATHER'S CLAN
MOTHER'S FATHER'S CLAN
GROUP I
FATHER'S CLAN
GROUP I
•CHILDREN" OF
FATHER'S CLAN
GROUP JIa
'CHILDREN OF
EGO'S CLAN
GROUP TTIa
''GRANDCHILDREN'
OF
EGO'S CLAN
Legend
— Respect behavior
Familiarity behavior
Fig. 11. Respect-familiarity behavior and the clan.
83
84 Kinship System of Seminole
briefly how the behavior patterns relating to these groups tended
to crystallize on clan lines. If we put these patterns of behavior
into diagrammatic form, however, an interesting fact emerges.
Though the various groups were "natural" classes in the sense of
being based on the clan organization, which in turn reflected an
emphasis on and an expansion of lineage, the respect-familiarity
behavior, from the point of view of our imaginary ego, reflected
the working of a generation principle. Thus between ego and
Groups II and I la there was strong mutual respect, while between
ego and Groups I, III, and Ilia familiarity prevailed. However,
the clan organization gave this principle a new twist, for Groups I,
II, Ila, III, and Ilia contained persons of all ages. This fact in
turn leads to the inevitable qualification that blurs the picture, for
ego's behavior toward at least some old people in Groups I, III, and
Ilia tended to slide over toward the respect pole of the respect-
familiarity axis. But the qualification does not invalidate the
principle expressed in Figure 11, for that principle was clearly shown
in the attitudes of informants.
OTHER CONSANGUINEAL KIN
It has been pointed out that the extension of kinship behavior
tended to formalize on clan lines to take care of consanguineal rela-
tives other than those to whom an actual genealogical relation could
be traced. These kin are those included in Figures 9 and 10. How-
ever, in the preceding section on terminology, it was shown that
the terminological system could be extended still further, though
no new terms were thereby introduced. With these relatives it was
largely an extension of attitudes — theoretical kinds of behavior
felt to be appropriate. It is here that the intensity of contact as
it affected actual behavior was most apparent. Thus the subjective,
conscious reaction to behavior patterns among consanguineal kin
was most intensely felt within the immediate family and with blood
relatives of both parents, slightly less so with the main groups
based on clan affiliation which have just been outlined, and very
much less so with other more remote consanguineal relatives.
RELATIVES BY MARRIAGE
Cahacawd-cahacawd. — A man used the term cahacawd for the wives
of his brother, his sister's son, and his mother's brother, and for the
sisters of his own wife, all of whom were potential spouses. These
women called him by the same term. Between these cahacawd of
Kinship System of Oklahoma Seminole 85
opposite sex there was much joking and teasing. Sexual matters
were favorite subjects for jest. To what extent extra-marital sexual
intercourse was also permitted is doubtful, though an old Creek
(Creek and Seminole customs were very similar) stated that it was
a fine thing if you could get away with it. The punishment for
adultery was very strict with both Seminoles and Creeks, though I
do not know whether sexual intercourse with an unmarried sister
of the wife was considered a crime.
The joking relationship between cahacawd of opposite sex was
the most intense one in Seminole society. I gained the impression
that it also was the only one where joking, teasing, and familiarity
generally were given much actual encouragement by tradition. In
the other relationships I have described, familiarity might be per-
mitted, but its translation into actual behavior was largely a matter
of individual temperament. Between cahacawd, however, joking
was expected. Familiarity was also expressed in other ways. Thus,
a favorite game held at the town square ground was one where
opposing sides tried to gain possession of a ball and throw it at the
upper end of a long pole set upright in the ground; a point was made
if the ball struck the pole at the upper end. In this game the men
played against the women, each side having a leader. The two
leaders were chosen so that they stood in the cahacawd relation,
the reason given being that they consequently "played hard against
each other" and did not refrain from bodily contact and tearing each
other's clothes.
As usual, some qualification of the above statements must be
made. The familiarity between a man and his cahacawd was tem-
pered by difference of age and degree of nearness or remoteness
of relation. He did not joke as much with the wife of some distant
classificatory brother not in his own clan as with his own brother's
wife. The degree of familiarity also depended to a large extent on
the character of the feeling between a man and the husband of his
cahacawd. If the two latter were not on friendly terms, familiarity
between the two cahacawd was correspondingly conditioned. The
former relation had an important effect on the latter.
Between women who called each other cahacawd behavior was
said to correspond to that prevailing between sisters.
Ancokowdkki-aykapdci (brother-in-la w-brother-in-law) . — The
character of this relation apparently varied according to individual
temperament. Statements from informants were conflicting and
contradictory. A few old men said that the two men who stood
86 Kinship System of Seminole
in this relationship never joked with one another. Other informants
said that if before marriage a man and his brother-in-law were on
terms of familiarity, the marriage did not inaugurate a respect rela-
tion, though if before marriage they were relative strangers, they
did not joke with one another afterwards. With the Seminole today
whatever formal behavior pattern may once have obtained in this
relationship is of no significance.
Parents-in-law-children-in-law. — The relation was one of strong
mutual respect with a prohibition on joking or familiarity of any
kind. I was told that in the old days a man avoided his mother-in-
law and a woman her father-in-law. Although the avoidance
apparently broke down at an early date, the respect relation con-
tinued to be observed. A man communicated with either his mother-
in-law or daughter-in-law by way of his wife, or his father-in-law
or son respectively, while a woman followed the same pattern in
dealing with parent-in-law or child-in-law of opposite sex. This
custom still tends to prevail in a few of the most conservative
families. In one with which I am well acquainted, the daughter-in-
law seldom communicates directly with her father-in-law but prefers
to express herself through his wife or his son (usually the former),
though there is no attempt at avoidance.
Between classificatory parents-in-law and children-in-law the
respect relation held only in mild form, if at all. This proved a
difficult point on which to obtain adequate information, though at
least one interesting question is involved. Thus a man observed a
strict form of respect behavior to his father's clan. His wife called
all the men in this clan "father-in-law" and all the women "mother-
in-law," regardless of age. Did she too observe a respect relation
to members of her husband's father's clan? The same question
may be asked in the case of a man and his wife's father's clan.
Actually my information indicates that between a man or woman
and his or her classificatory "parents-in-law" in the spouse's father's
clan behavior tended to follow age lines. Joking was permissible
if there was no great age difference, but respect of young to old
was obligatory. However, I am inclined to believe that this
relation was one of the first to change its character through
acculturative influences.
Other affinal relatives. — With other classes of affinal relatives —
classificatory "little fathers," "little mothers," "grandfathers,"
"grandmothers," "grandchildren" — behavior was for the most part
a weakened extension of that already described for these particular
Kinship System of Oklahoma Seminole 87
relatives. There is, however, an important question, namely, in
cases where generation was over-ridden by lineage in the terminology.
For example, the husband of the father's sister and the husbands
of all women in the father's clan were called "grandfather." These
grandfathers were of widely varying ages. The behavior pattern
between ego and the father's sister's husband corresponded approxi-
mately to that of grandchild-grandparent, though the former was
apparently not formalized and rather amorphous. However, as ego
reached adulthood he naturally began acquiring "grandfathers"
(men married to women in his father's clan) who were of the same
generation as he; how did he behave toward them? In this case
my evidence is inconclusive, though no formalized pattern existed
in recent times at least. The behavior in this "grandchild"-' 'grand-
parent" relation may always have been of an amorphous type; on
the other hand, it may also have been one of the first patterns to
succumb to acculturative influence. The same is true of the other
classes of relatives noted above, to which single terms were applied
but which included persons of widely varying ages. It is essentially
a question of the extent to which lineage over-rode generation in
the sphere of kinship behavior, as well as in that of terminology;
unfortunately, with regard to the spouses of members of the father's
clan I doubt that the necessary data can be secured at the present
time.
CORRELATION OF BEHAVIOR AND TERMINOLOGY
For the kinship system as a whole, there was a fairly close corre-
lation between behavior and terminology. As I have just noted,
this correlation tended not to be apparent in those relations where
behavior was amorphous and unformalized, particularly with regard
to affinal relatives, such as those married to persons in the father's
clan. With affinal kin there might also be an obvious lack of correla-
tion. Thus terminologically the spouse's father's clan was classed
under two terms depending on sex, generation being disregarded;
behavior, however, tended to follow generation lines. It is precisely
on this point that deviations of behavior from terminology occurred
in the Oklahoma Seminole kinship system; that is, though the
lineage principle might be followed in the terminology, behavior
tended to be based on differences of age and generation. As noted
previously, the conflict between these two principles was apparent
primarily with affinal kin. Viewed historically, this lack of correla-
tion was probably always present to some degree, but I am inclined
to believe that it has been accentuated with the gradual change
88 Kinship System of Seminole
and ultimate breakdown of the kinship system. One of the first
effects of acculturation was the restriction of the range of the system
following the decline in the social importance of kinship and the
clan. The effective working of a generation principle in the behavior
of people does not necessarily depend on the recognition of kinship
ties; however, such recognition does seem essential to the effective
functioning of the lineage principle. As I hope to demonstrate later,
there has been a shift in emphasis from lineage to generation through-
out the kinship systems of the major Southeastern tribes. This
shift affected behavior first. The terminology tended to lag behind.
KINSHIP AND SOCIAL CUSTOMS
As Creek and Seminole cultures were basically the same, most
of the data I obtained on the following customs corroborate what
is already available in the literature (particularly Swanton, 1928,
pp. 97-107, 151-153, 166-167, 346-398). In the present section I
have summarized the most important points regarding these
customs, at the same time including what additional information I
acquired in the field.
BIRTH
When it became known that an addition to the family was
expected, "everyone would be happy, for the family was about to
become stronger." During the period of pregnancy, both husband
and wife underwent restrictions on their conduct. The expectant
mother could not eat sweets or grease, as these would make the
birth "sticky"; nor could she eat salt. The husband on his part
did little hunting or fishing; his presence on a hunting party was
thought to bring the whole party bad luck. Both father and mother
avoided looking at anything ugly lest it influence the child. Shortly
before birth the mother retired to a shelter built by her husband
away from the main house. Here the child was born. The mother
was attended by an old woman who acted as midwife, and by a
female relative or two that assisted; no men were present, none of
them venturing near the shelter. After some ten days the mother
and child came back to the house, though the mother did not regain
her normal status for about four months (probably not always this
long). During this time she had her own eating utensils and a
special bed, and could not sit in any chair or bench used by men.
The latter did not touch or look closely at the new-born baby and
avoided too close contact with the mother, for fear of falling ill.
After the period was over the mother was again considered normal.
Kinship System of Oklahoma Seminole 89
childhood and youth
When a child was still quite young, sometimes shortly after
birth, it was given a name by an old person, usually a grandfather
or clan elder. This name either referred to some event in the giver's
life or was made up on the spot. Actually this personal name was
never used in direct address, no matter how old or young the owner.
Instead, children were called anci-pd-na-t ("boy") or anhoktocl
("girl"), or by their house names. The latter were given by the
parents and were descriptive of the child or its actions; thus, a
quiet little girl might be called clssi ("mouse") or an excitable and
active one tap6-cka ("explosion"). Surnames and English names
came in with missionaries and schools, and the transmission of the
surname through the patrilineal line is now firmly established.
Formerly kinship terms were used for adults rather than names.
Children were early taught the essentials of good manners and
proper conduct. Respect for adults and old people was emphasized.
As far as old people were concerned, respect was instilled partly
through fear of the magical practices which most old persons knew,
and partly through regard for the wisdom and experience of age.
"The old people were like the shade of a tree sheltering the young
from the sun," an elderly Seminole once remarked.
With the coming of puberty, boys made a step forward by acquir-
ing their ceremonial names at the town square ground. These
names, compounded by adding a clan or town name to a traditional
appellation such as "king," "warrior," etc., ran in clan lines, but
were publicly given by the clan of the boy's father. At the same
time a boy assumed the various ceremonial duties and obligations,
such as observing periods of fasting and medicine-taking, which
were obligatory for all males during performances of dances like
the Green Corn Dance in the late spring. Heretofore, the boys had
been kept under the care of the women at town dances; now they
began to assume the status of men.
Girls received no ceremonial names and apparently the only
event to mark their approach to adulthood was the assumption of
the obligations associated with menstruation. These were similar
to those connected with pregnancy. A menstruating girl or woman
isolated herself, spending her period away from the family, cooking
her own food and using her own dishes. She did not venture into
the fields lest the plants weaken and die. She attended no dances
at the square ground. After her menstrual period, she bathed and
put on fresh clothes. If she were married, her husband was also
90 Kinship System of Seminole
obliged to be careful of his behavior. He did not scratch his nieces
and nephews in punishment, for it was thought scratches made at
this time would become infected and refuse to heal. At dances he
took medicine last, and if the town were about to play a match
ball game with another town of opposite "fire," he had to sit in a
special place and be the last to take medicine in the preliminary
ceremonies. These restrictions were all in the nature of hygienic
precautions. A menstruating woman was believed to carry influences
dangerous to the health of herself and others. Such influences were
counteracted through the observance of traditional behavior during
menstruation. Now that these customs are no longer followed, the old
people say it is no wonder that the Indians die young, that medicine-
men lose their power, and that the health of the tribe has declined.
During childhood and youth the boy or girl gradually acquired
the skills necessary to make a living. The boy learned to hunt by
participating in hunting parties composed mostly of older men, and
by following the teachings of father, uncle, or grandfather. The
first four deer a boy shot he himself could not eat, but gave to older
relatives. He learned to split rails and build cabins and shelters.
He learned to play the lacrosse game and to dance, watching the
well-known dance leaders and admiring the composition of their
songs. Bit by bit he picked up some knowledge of magic from an
elder to help him in hunting or in sickness, while an older boy might
impart a brief ritual for the making of love-medicine. If he were
intelligent and adept, he might later be taken in hand by a medicine-
man and become a professional in the practice of magic.
Girls on their part were taught the household duties of women.
They learned how to cook, particularly how to make the much-
loved safki drink, blue dumplings, and sour bread. They worked
in the fields and took care of other children. However, the folk
household arts, such as the making of basketry and pottery, suffered
an early decline.
Throughout their youth, the boys and girls were watched by
their maternal uncles. In the old days at the Green Corn Dances
the clan elders instructed the young people in traditional ways. As
the latter reached adulthood, the uncles made ready for the next
important step in the lives of their nephews and nieces — that of
marriage.
marriage
In former times marriages tended to be within the town. No
one, however, was permitted to marry into his own clan, whether
Kinship System of Oklahoma Seminole 91
in the same town or not. Also it was not considered right to marry
anyone in the father's clan, though there was no serious physical
punishment for so doing. The negative sanction was chiefly one of
ridicule. It was said that a person who married into the father's
clan would get a severe case of "itch"; he would be laughed at, and
to his face called "the man with the itch." Even today there are
not many of these marriages. Among the old people there is still
a feeling that a marriage of this sort would leave one in a continual
quandary as to how to act toward one's kinfolk and what to call
them, for the working of the kinship system would be badly disrupted.
Lastly, a man and woman whose fathers belonged to the same clan
were in theory not supposed to marry, as they were classificatory
brother and sister.
In the selection of their spouses young people had little to say.
A young man might indicate to his parents or his mother's brother
that he was ready to marry and that he favored a certain girl, but
unless his elders agreed and arranged the match, his wishes generally
came to naught. A girl's opinion carried even less weight and she
might be required to make the best of a bad bargain. Prior to
their marriage, a husband and wife often had little to do with one
another. The arrangements were in the hands of the mother's
brother, though the permission of the parents was necessary and
they might be the ones to initiate preliminary discussion. The
matter was settled when the mothers' brothers of the girl and
the boy came to an agreement. Often the elders of the two
clans involved were also consulted.
There was little or no ceremony attached to the actual wedding.
Once the match had been decided, the groom simply came to live
with his bride at the residence of her family. Usually the two
young people were given a talk by the mother's brother, who might
be accompanied by a clan elder or two. They were told that they
must take good care of one another, and that they must never speak
slightingly of their parents-in-law and should always be helpful
and respectful to them. Sometimes the young man gave a small
gift to his parents-in-law and the bride one to hers.
For the space of about a year the groom lived with his wife's
family; during this time he was supposed to help support the family
and do various jobs for them, such as cutting wood and carrying
water. Thereafter the young people set up their own establishment,
the families of the two uniting to build them a cabin. I was told
that a daughter liked to have her house near that of her mother.
92 Kinship System of Seminole
Dave Cummings, an elderly Seminole and the present chief at the
Liwahili square ground, said that the location of the house might
be decided by the young couple's sleeping out for a night at the
chosen spot; if either suffered bad dreams, such as being chased by
bears or wolves, another spot was selected. He also stated that
after the cabin had been built it was not immediately occupied. A
medicine-man was the only one allowed near it for four days, during
which time he sprinkled medicine on the inside corners of the house
each day, thereby giving the future occupants magical protection
against misfortune.
After the marriage of his nephew or niece, the responsibility of
the mother's brother did not cease. He continued to look after
his charge and visited the young couple to see how they were getting
along. If the bride or groom showed signs of laziness, inhospitality,
or bad temper, the mother's brother or another clan elder gave
the offender a lecture. "Marriage was better then than now," an
old woman told me. "You always had an elder behind you."
Polygyny was a common practice which lasted until recent times.
However, only the older and wealthier men could afford more than
one wife and I know of no man who had more than three. Usually
these were sisters, though I collected several instances of a man's
having two wives who were not sisters. In such case I was told that
he secretly made medicine to "make his wives just like sisters"
and hence to counteract the jealousy and quarreling that was ex-
pected to break out between the two women. It was usual for wives
who were not sisters to maintain separate households apart from
each other. In this connection it should be mentioned that an older
man had much greater freedom in selecting a wife than a younger one.
Both levirate and sororate prevailed among the Seminole. The
levirate included the marriage of a widow with her deceased
husband's sister's son. Marriage involved the setting up of a tie
between both the immediate families of husband and wife and the
entire clans of each. If either spouse died without leaving any
close relatives, the clan of the dead spouse nevertheless had a claim
on the surviving partner, and he or she was usually obliged to
remarry into that clan.
Incest and adultery were both very severely punished. Incest
included any sexual intercourse between members of one clan,
whether they were actually related or not. In ancient times the
prohibition probably extended to linked clans as well. In cases
of known incest, the clan elders called a clan council and then
Kinship System of Oklahoma Seminole 93
proceeded to punish the offenders, with all the clan supposed to
be present. The guilty pair was usually flogged and scratched;
originally scratching was done with garfish teeth but later a harness
needle was substituted. Before being used on the unfortunate
offenders, the needle was treated so that the scars of the scratches
would never disappear, but remain as visible evidence of guilt.
The punishment for adultery was equally strict; it included the
cutting off of hair and ears, sometimes the tip of the nose, and a
thorough flogging to boot. In later days the custom declined and
adultery became punishable according to the laws of the nation.
However, a few old people remember cases of punishment in the
old manner, and one account is included:
Little Simon committed adultery with another man's wife. The woman's
husband found out and told his wife's uncle. The husband's clan elders and
the wife's elders got together and caught Little Simon and the woman. They
whipped them both, the man until he was insensible. They also cut off the
hair and ears of each. I knew they were going to do this and came along to
the place a little later. The sun sparkled on something in the dust. It was
the gold ear-rings of the woman, still in the ears. They were lying there
on the ground.
Divorce was said to be relatively infrequent, but in the absence
of adequate data the statement remains unsubstantiated. The
chief ground for divorce was neglect on the part of one spouse of
his or her family duties, though incompatibility was also mentioned.
If a couple could not get along, even though the mothers' brothers
of the two had attempted to straighten matters out, a divorce was
effected simply through separation. Children remained with the
mother. In case of remarriage, it was not necessary for either
partner to take another husband or wife from the same clan. In
fact, if a divorced spouse had been lazy, slovenly, and neglectful,
the stigma tended to extend to his or her whole clan, as they were
more or less responsible for their members' conduct. In such case
another clan could be selected in remarriage.
DEATH
When an individual died, he was dressed in good clothes and
buried as soon as possible. There was no town graveyard, though
a family often buried its dead next to one another. The grave was
dug by one or more old men, young men not being permitted to
undertake this task. The body was put into the grave and each
person present tossed in a handful of earth before the grave was
filled. Few people came, and after the burial each one took a little
medicine that a doctor had specially prepared, while the gravediggers
also sprinkled medicine on their clothes and tools. Burial was
94 Kinship System of Seminole
without ceremony, though I was told that sometimes an old man
might give a short eulogy.
Four days after death the house of the deceased was thoroughly
cleaned and the yard raked. All clothes and bedding were washed.
Cedar leaves were burned in the house and medicine sprinkled around
it. At the same time a small house-like shelter of wood was built
over the grave; after finishing it, the workers took medicine again
and sprinkled their clothes and tools with it. There was considerable
fear of the dead man's ghost and of death generally, and the associated
magical practices were essentially protective measures.
As soon as a man died his wife was put to bed. There she stayed
for four days, completely covered, though she was permitted to
attend the burial. However, she was kept blindfolded except during
the time she was at the grave. After the four-day period her mourn-
ing was not yet over. One or two old informants said that in ancient
times it lasted for four years, but that later it was reduced to four
months. Most Indians agreed on the latter figure and it probably
was always more nearly the correct one. During mourning the widow
kept close to the house, attending no dances or other social gatherings.
She removed all her jewelry, dressed in her oldest clothes, let her
hair go uncombed, and went unwashed and unkempt. At the end
of the four months she washed and put on clean clothes; if there
were a dance at the square ground she attended it, thereby showing
that she had regained her normal condition. One very old Seminole
woman, Alii Tanyan, said that it was usual for several unmarried
women of the husband's clan to visit the widow during the mourning
period and perhaps to clean her up a little. At the end of the four
months they came again. This time they helped the widow bathe
and dress, providing her with clean new clothes. Then they said
either "You still belong to us," which meant that a new husband
of the same clan had been selected, or "We let you go now," which
was a way of notifying the widow that she was free to marry into
a different clan. But it was usual to take another spouse from the
same clan.
Men were allowed a little more freedom during the mourning
period. However, they also stayed in bed for four days after the
death of the wife and remained in mourning four months, avoidin;
others and wearing old clothes.
The question of inheritance is a difficult one. Nowadays, o:
course, the custom followed is that prescribed by the laws of the
state of Oklahoma. What it was formerly I am not sure. However,
Kinship System of Oklahoma Seminole 95
the spouse always seemed to have been given some of the deceased's
property. Some personal possessions were often buried with the
owner and some might be given to individual relatives shortly before
death. One complicating circumstance is that the ideas about the
ownership of property have changed. Formerly, when a house was
built it belonged to the wife, as did everything in it except the
husband's personal belongings. Now the opposite tends to prevail.
In the old days when a man died, his wife simply retained the house
and its furnishings; despite the later change in the concept of owner-
ship she continued to maintain an important claim on the property
at his death. As for other goods and chattels I am uncertain. Land
was never owned by individuals and hence was not involved.
Summary
The principal social groupings among the Oklahoma Seminole
centered around the nation, the town, the household, and the clan.
The kinship system was a Crow type. The terminological structure
was consistent within itself and showed a close relation to the clan
organization. The chief principles of terminological classification
involved generation, sex, lineage, and clan. Formal behavior
patterns existed, though examination of a number of relations,
particularly those involving affinal kin, revealed an amorphous and
unformalized type of behavior depending considerably on individual
temperament. Behavior and terminology harmonized fairly well
except that there were inconsistencies between the two in these
same relations, where lineage was emphasized in the terminology
but not necessarily in behavior. It was suggested that such incon-
sistencies were probably always present in some degree, though
they may have been accentuated with the decline in the clan organi-
zation. The latter was seen to have been closely related to the kin-
ship system and to have had ramifications in various customs relating
to the life cycle. An emphasis on matrilineal descent was apparent
in the organization of formal groupings such as the clan, in the
kinship structure, and in the strength of customs relating to
the avunculate. Certain deficiencies in the data are apparent. The
actual social functions of the formalized behavior patterns were
not fully shown; facets of the clan organization other than those
described here or in the literature no doubt existed; material on
inheritance is incomplete. However, most of this information can
no longer be obtained and sufficient has been presented to make
clear the outlines of the kinship system against the background of
social custom.
III. THE ABORIGINAL SEMINOLE KINSHIP SYSTEM
Although most of the Seminole were moved to Oklahoma follow-
ing the Seminole Wars, a small number refused to surrender to the
federal government and retreated into the wild interior of the
Florida peninsula. Today their descendants are the least accul-
turated Indians in the Southeast. In a previous report (Spoehr,
1941a), I published a brief sketch of the social organization of the
Cow Creek Seminole, one of the Florida Indian bands. The problem
now arises as to whether it is possible to extract, by comparison of
the Oklahoma and Florida divisions of the tribe, a kinship type
which can be considered the ancestor of the kinship systems of
Florida and Oklahoma, respectively. If such a type can be ascer-
tained, it may be sufficiently representative of the condition prior
to the major changes effected by white contact to enable us to push
forward a little further the frontiers of Southeastern ethnography.
The principal difficulty in formulating an aboriginal Seminole
kinship system is one of reconciling the differences between Florida
and Oklahoma. When a particular feature of social organization
differs in the two divisions of Seminole, a decision must be made
as to which form is the older. The problem is complicated by the
fact that the data used here are drawn from two time levels. The
Florida material refers to the present; that from Oklahoma to a
period fifty years or more ago. In formulating an ancestral form
of Seminole kinship, I have assumed that the differences in the
general character of the culture change in Florida on one hand, and
in Oklahoma on the other, account for the differences in social
organization between the two divisions of Seminole. Consequently,
we must first note those factors which made for change or for con-
servatism among the Seminole of Florida and of Oklahoma in order
to gain an insight into the historical background of the dissimilarities
between the two groups.
Social Change and White Contact
After the conclusion of the Seminole Wars and the removal to
the west of the main body of the tribe, only a mere handful of
Indians, estimated at about 200, remained in Florida. This little
group scattered through the more remote parts of the interior out-
side the reach of the military. The result was a changed relation
of the Indians to their environment and an alteration of the social
relations among themselves. The old town organization apparently
96
Aboriginal Seminole Kinship System 97
disintegrated; hunting became more important relative to agricul-
ture; there were naturally fewer clans with the smaller population;
and ceremonial life seems to have become simplified with the greater
dispersion of the people. Although these changes were initiated by
white contact, they rose in an indirect manner from it. We may
contrast this type of social change with that among the main group
of Seminole in Oklahoma. Here there was continuous, first-hand
contact with whites, particularly missionaries. As I have already
noted, the latter started boarding schools, and hence altered the
relations of parents, uncles, and clan elders to the children. The
traditional authority of uncles and clan elders in matters pertaining
to education and marriage was weakened. In the organizations of
the Christian church the clan was not recognized as being of any
great importance and hence suffered a corresponding decline. In
Oklahoma social change was stimulated by continuous contact,
whereas in Florida the original contact situation brought about social
change in a more indirect manner. Actually the two types of
contact change have no doubt existed in both Florida and Oklahoma,
but a single type has tended to predominate in each place. At
present, however, the Florida Seminole have been thrust into close
contact with whites and their social organization may very well
show in the future changes similar to those that have taken place
in Oklahoma.
Among both divisions there were also factors which tended to
retard change. In Florida this was primarily a matter of the relative
isolation of the Indians and of their great conservatism. Although
they maintained continuous trade relations with whites after the
Seminole Wars, their chief desire was that the white man leave
them alone in their daily pursuits. By living in the interior, the
Indians were able to regulate the amount of contact with whites.
In the religious field, missionary attempts to convert the Indians
have never made appreciable headway.
In Oklahoma too there was room for conservatives. The greater
size of the Seminole population in Oklahoma was in itself probably
the most important permissive factor enabling the old social system
to continue functioning in the traditional way. I have also mentioned
the fact that the territories of the tribes surrounding the Oklahoma
Seminole afforded the latter some protection from white penetration
until the time of allotment of Indian lands. In fact, the type of
change characteristic of Oklahoma was perhaps not so inflexible as
that which prevailed in Florida, for in Oklahoma one could exercise
a certain choice in the adoption or rejection of ideas and institutions
98 Kinship System of Seminole
brought by white contact agents. In Florida, on the other hand,
the social changes were largely grounded in the necessity of making
new environmental adjustments, with a consequent restriction in
the range of choice left to the individual.
Components of the Aboriginal Kinship System
The method used in the following formulation of an original
Seminole kinship type is one of finding similarities and reconciling
differences between Florida and Oklahoma. In regard to the
differences, the decision as to which of two dissimilar forms is the
older has been based on the following considerations: (1) The im-
portance of kinship in primitive societies. The course of change
following white contact is usually a decline in the social importance
of kinship as a regulator of social relations. (2) The factor of con-
sistency with the known matrilineal character of aboriginal Seminole
social organization. (3) Consistency with the known size of tribal
population and with environmental conditions. As for the similarities
between Florida and Oklahoma, it is possible that the two divisions
changed in the same way; however, lacking evidence of such possible
parallel changes, I have had no recourse but to consider such similari-
ties as representative of conditions prior to the split of the tribe.
A rather broad view of kinship will be taken. Not only will
the kinship system proper be discussed, but also two closely related
types of social grouping — the household and the clan. In any
study of a particular aspect of social organization one finds it difficult
to decide what to include and what to leave out. Among the Semi-
nole the character of the household group, the clan, and the kinship
system proper are all so closely related that a discussion of the latter
alone is not fruitful. I shall also make occasional reference to the
larger territorial unit consisting of a number of households, for the
matter is important with reference to kinship in that the concentra-
tion or dispersion of households affects the nature of the contact
among them.
kinship terminology
The kinship terms used among the Muskogee-speaking Seminole
of Florida and their brethren in Oklahoma are, with a very few
exceptions, the same. However, in formulating a kinship pattern
we are more concerned with the applications of the terms than with
the terms themselves. The discrepancies in the terminology between
Florida and Oklahoma will consequently be discussed with regard
to application. These differences are as follows:
Aboriginal Seminole Kinship System 99
(1) In Oklahoma the mother's brother's wife was classed with
the sister-in-law, whereas in Florida she is usually classed with the
mother's sister (an exception occurs when she belongs to the father's
clan, in which case she may be called a "grandmother"). This
terminological difference is no doubt related to the absence of the
sororate and levirate as a formally sanctioned institution among the
Cow Creek band of Florida (cf. Spoehr, 1941a, p. 23). I am inclined
to believe that the reason for this is to be found in the small size of
the band and the consequent lack of choice left to the society in
regulating the remarriages of its members. In Oklahoma the mother's
brother's wife, the wife's sister, and the brother's wife were all
classed together as potential spouses, with the sororate and levirate
recognized institutions. This is certainly the aboriginal condition.
(2) In Florida a single term, anhokt&lwa, is used for a parent-
in-law of either sex. In Oklahoma this term is used only
for the mother-in-law, the father-in-law being called amma-hi.
Amm&'hi is not used by the Florida Seminole. Why this difference
should occur I do not know, particularly as the literal translation
of anhokt&lwa is "my old woman," and it is difficult to see how it
could come to be used in Florida for the father-in-law, as well as
for his wife. However, the use of different terms for the parent-in-
law of opposite sex is a deep-seated principle in the Oklahoma system
and is also common to the Creeks. In Florida, it is also true that
the members of the Cow Creek band are so inter-related that the
father-in-law is almost always a consanguineal as well as an affinal
relative and can be called by a consanguineal term, usually a classi-
ficatory uncle; it is possible that the father-in-law term, ammd-hi,
was consequently dropped from common usage. For these reasons
I am inclined to believe that the use of distinct terms for the two
parents-in-law is the aboriginal form.
(3) Acually the chief difference in kinship terminology between
Florida and Oklahoma is in the extension of terms. I have pointed
out previously how the small size of the Cow Creek band in Florida
and the restricted number of clans has tended to cramp the full
and extended working of the terminological system (Spoehr, 1941a,
pp. 18-20). Unlike the Oklahoma group, those in Florida have
married (probably by force of circumstances) into the father's clan.
This has gone on for several generations, with the result that there
have been a large number of cross-cousin marriages between either
real or classificatory cousins. In turn, this condition has produced
a variety of alternative possibilities in the classification of kin.
100 Kinship System of Seminole
When a man marries a woman of his father's clan, he is marrying a
"grandmother"; his children are both his "sons" and "daughters"
and his "little fathers" and "grandmothers," while other members
of his father's clan can be called by either affinal or consanguineal
terms. Many such marriages increase still further the terminological
complications. The Florida situation is evidently the result of
necessity, arising from the small number of Indians left on the
peninsula after the Seminole Wars. The Oklahoma system is more
consistent with the size of population prior to the Seminole Wars
and seems to be more nearly representative of the aboriginal manner
of extending kinship terms.
(4) In both Florida and Oklahoma there are two terms for the
father's brother, calkoci ("little father") and caheyca (in Oklahoma,
caseyca). However, in Oklahoma the latter term apparently has
been archaic for many years. On the other hand, in Florida caheyca
is used quite as much as calkoci, particularly for classificatory
brothers of the father. The existence of two terms for the father's
brother is certainly an old feature of the Seminole system, though
which term was formerly used more it is impossible to say.
kinship behavior
Within the elementary family, kinship behavior in Florida and
in Oklahoma is basically the same. Furthermore, the mother's
brother-sister's child relation is similar, except that in Florida today
the avunculate lacks some of the closeness of contact and importance
in matters of education and marriage that was apparently true of
the early days in Oklahoma. In Florida the tie between the mother's
brother and sister's child seems to have been weakened by the
scattering of households (cf. Spoehr, 1941a, pp. 21-22). In other
relationships there are also similarities. The parent-in-law-child-
in-law relation in both divisions of the tribe is one of mutual respect,
though it is important to note that in Florida today there is no
attempt at avoidance between mother-in-law and son-in-law, or
father-in-law and daughter-in-law. The character of the relation
between grandparents and grandchildren is also similar.
It is in regard to those patterns of behavior which in Oklahoma
were based on clan affiliation that there is a surprising contrast
between the two groups of Seminole. In Florida, the highly forma-
lized respect relation to the father's clan is completely lacking, nor
is there any particular respect toward the totem animal of the
father's clan. Likewise, the feeling of familiarity toward the father's
Aboriginal Seminole Kinship System 101
father's and mother's father's clans and the institutionalized joking
relation between a man and his sister-in-law are not to be found.
Instead, behavior among the Florida Seminole tends to follow age
and sex lines. With persons of one's own age, one may be familiar;
toward older persons one is respectful; toward young individuals
one may indulge in a sort of optional familiarity. This is modified
by the fact that familiarity is usually stronger between persons of
the same sex than between those of opposite sex. Although a more
adequate knowledge of the language would no doubt have enabled
me to discern nuances of behavior in Florida that I missed, there
is no question about the absence of such marked patterns as respect
for the father's clan and familiarity toward sisters-in-law.
Although the Florida Seminole are today the less accultured
division, I believe that the formal behavior patterns which existed
in Oklahoma are more nearly the aboriginal forms. They were
practiced by a much larger body of people and were also common to
the Creeks, while as I mentioned previously, the break-up of the
town organization in Florida led to considerable culture change.
However, if the Oklahoma condition is the older, what happened
in Florida to the distinct pattern of respect to the father's clan and
familiarity to one's sister-in-law? My own interpretation is as
follows: I have already pointed out the prevalence in Florida of
taking a spouse from the father's clan. According to Oklahoma
usage this would upset the kinship system badly. An individual
is supposed to accord the men and women of his father's clan the
utmost respect. At the same time the brother-in-law-sister-in-law.
relation is one of privileged familiarity. Now when a man marries j
into the father's clan, how is he to treat the women of that clan?
By one rule he must respect them, but by the other he may, and is
often expected to, take liberties with them. Here are two anti-
thetical attitudes which come into collision with each other. My
own feeling is that the Florida Seminole, originally forced by cir-
cumstances to marry into the father's clan, have solved the problem
by throwing overboard both these formal patterns and adopting in
their place a simple scheme based primarily on relative differences
in age and sex.
In Oklahoma both the terminological system and the formalized
respect-familiarity behavior patterns reflected an emphasis on
lineage and clan. In Florida, although the kinship terminology
reflects such an emphasis, the respect-familiarity behavior does not
parallel Oklahoma usage. One should not infer that in Florida,
lineage and clan are consequently of slight importance. On the
102 Kinship System of Seminole
contrary, they are significant social facts on which is based a great
deal of Florida Seminole life. Thus, an individual is born into a
clan; the clan bond is a nexus holding the members together. A man
is necessarily related to his father's clan through his father and to
his wife's clan through his wife and children, but he has a feeling of
solidarity with his own clan which to some extent he opposes to other
clans. Also, lineage and clan are important in the residential
arrangements and ceremonial organization. Therefore, in Florida
the terminology agrees with other features of social organization,
even though it is not correlated with the formal set of behavior
patterns that existed among the Oklahoma Seminole.
THE HOUSEHOLD
The camp or household organization of Florida is based on the
matrilineal lineage, with each household usually consisting of a
woman, her daughters, their children, and the unmarried brothers
and husbands of these. Occasionally the camp is composed only
of an elementary family, but in such case the children are apt to
be numerous. In other instances the camp includes women more
remotely related to the lineage, together with their husbands and
children, but the women in the camp must belong to the same clan.
In Oklahoma the household was simply an elementary family group,
except that there was temporary matrilocal residence of bride and
groom. The Florida form of household grouping is certainly more
consistent with the known matrilineal character of aboriginal
Seminole and Creek society. Its former existence among the Creeks
is attested to by Gatschet (1884, pp. 120-121). Apparently there
was a change in Oklahoma from permanent to temporary matrilocal
residence after marriage, with a related break-up of the extended
family.
THE CLAN
The matrilineal, strictly exogamous clan is common both to
Florida and to Oklahoma. There are only five clans among the
Cow Creek Seminole of Florida, four of which — Panther, Bird, Deer,
and Snake — are found in Oklahoma. The fifth Florida clan —
Talahasee — is probably of recent formation and has no counterpart
in the west.
The data show some differences in the social functions of the
clan between the two divisions of the tribe. In Oklahoma there
seems to have been a closer relation between clan elders and young
people and a greater authority of the former over the latter in matters
Aboriginal Seminole Kinship System 103
pertaining to education and marriage. In Florida the clan ties
together all the household groups whose women belong to one clan
in a manner not found in Oklahoma (cf. Spoehr, 1941a, pp. 10-16).
In both divisions the clan had similar political functions, particularly
in the punishment for homicide, and, although the ceremonial
organization of the Florida Seminole is simpler than that which
once prevailed in the group which was moved west, the clan
is important in determining the selection of officials for the ceremonies.
The phratry is more of a functioning group in Florida than it
has been for many years in Oklahoma. An important feature of
the phratry among both the Seminole and the Creek is the position
of one clan in the phratry as "uncle" (or sometimes as "elder
brother") to the others (Swanton, 1928, p. 145; Haas, 1939, pp. 600-
601; Spoehr, 1941a, p. 15). This feature is an interesting extension
of a kinship relation and a reflection of the matrilineal emphasis
that runs through the formal social organization of the Seminole.
The dual division of clans into hata-ka and cilo-ko- that prevailed
among the Oklahoma Seminole is not found in Florida. In Florida
there is, however, an unnamed dual division which has a limited
function in the ceremonial sphere.
SUMMARY
The major points of difference between Oklahoma and Florida
are those noted above. We are now in a position to state the con-
stituents of our hypothetical kinship system. This consisted of the
system proper, plus a series of closely related institutions and social
groupings. There was first of all a Crow type of kinship terminology
with the extension of terms based squarely on the clan in the manner
described for the Oklahoma Seminole, together with the set of
behavior patterns outlined for the same division of the tribe. Related
to this was a distinctive set of social usages. The mother's brother-
sister's child relation was an important one, particularly in matters
of education and marriage. Both sororate and levirate were practiced
and were reflected in kinship terminology. The kinship system was
closely related to a matrilineal exogamous clan organization, which
acted in cases of incest, adultery, and murder. The elders of each
clan possessed considerable influence over the other members of the
clan, particularly the younger people, whose education and marriage
they helped regulate and direct. The clans had important ceremonial
functions and were linked into phratral groups, as well as being
separated into a "red" and "white" dual division. The household
104 Kinship System of Seminole
was based on the matrilineal lineage and was composed of an extended
family group. Residence after marriage was permanently matrilocal,
except that presumably a household whose members became too
numerous to be cared for adequately by prevailing domestic arrange-
ments might divide into units of more convenient size. Lastly,
the arrangement of the households was not one of dispersion, such
as was the case in Florida before the establishment of the reservations
a few years ago, but was rather one of a fairly compact grouping into
a town organization, which probably tended toward endogamy.
There is no way of proving directly by known documentary
sources that this pattern of social organization existed, nor is there
any way of determining exactly its historic depth. Yet it agrees
with what is known of Seminole social organization, and I submit
the pattern as a well-considered guess as to the nature of the Seminole
kinship system, the clan, and the household before the Seminole Wars
and the removal west of the main part of the tribe.
IV. THE OKLAHOMA SEMINOLE TODAY
Before leaving the subject of Seminole kinship, we may note
briefly the present condition of Oklahoma Seminole social organiza-
tion. The data presented in the foregoing pages stemmed from the
minds of old informants. These data refer to the past, not to the
present. What, we may ask, has happened to the kinship system
during the time span covered by the living generations of Seminole
Indians in Oklahoma?
The kinship terminology has not changed in the application of
terms. The pattern of descent from the father's sister or mother's
brother, for instance, remains the same. But there is a great con-
traction in the range of the terminological system. The father's
father's and mother's father's clans are no longer considered kin
and terms are not applied to them. The Indians remember that
members of the father's clan and the mother's clan were once all
reckoned as kinfolk and so kin terms are sometimes used in referring
to them, but the distinction between blood and classificatory relatives
has become sharper, and the extension of terms to the latter is now
largely a shade of the past. Affinal terms are seldom extended
beyond the close blood kin of the spouse. Also, personal names are
now used in place of kinship terms. In terminology, therefore, the
main change has been a radical contraction of the system (cf . Antle,
1936. This paper contains several errors, but it illustrates the
contraction of the terminological system).
Behavior patterns have faded until only survivals remain, though
examples of the respect relation between the members of a clan and
those whose fathers belonged to this clan can be observed. A good
many Indians still hold to some form of the respect relation to the
parents-in-law, particularly of the opposite sex. There is also a
tendency for brother-in-law and sister-in-law to joke and tease each
other, but this rarely occurs between classificatory cahacawd. These
are all survivals of the more heavily formalized behavior patterns
of the old system. More amorphous patterns have disappeared.
Also, as the clan has declined in importance, it has become of less
and less significance as a regulator of behavior. Age and sex remain
as potential bases of behavior patterns, and there is a disposition to
use difference of age and sex as a means of determining respect and
familiarity. It should also be noted that in Oklahoma today families
vary in their degree of conservatism, while there is a very marked
difference between old and young in their knowledge and observance
105
106 Kinship System of Seminole
of traditional ways. Young people usually know little and often
care less of the social milieu in which their grandparents were reared.
The clan is nearly impotent and has lost most of its social func-
tions. However, I did not meet a Seminole who was ignorant of the
clan to which he belonged, while very few people marry within their
own clan. It also continues to play a part in the seating arrange-
ments and in the succession of the more important officials at the
four square grounds still in existence. Otherwise the clan is a thing
of the past.
With a few possible exceptions the tie between the mother's
brother and the sister's child has been broken. Scratching children
for punishment has also passed away. Within the household group
the father is considered the head of the family and generally exercises
what control there is over the children. Surnames have been adopted
and pass down in the paternal line. Marriage arrangements are left
to the young people themselves; the economic condition of the
Indians is generally so poor and disorganized that residence after
marriage depends primarily on circumstances. The sororate and
levirate, polygyny, punishment for adultery and incest, and pro-
longed mourning for widows and widowers have all disappeared as
recognized institutions.
At the time of the allotment of Indian lands the people of a
town tended to take up allotments near one another, so that the
town retained some of its territorial unity. Even today this tendency
is evident, though the Seminole have lost most of their land to whites.
But the town, or band as it is now called, is not of much importance,
even though each band has three representatives on a rather ineffec-
tive tribal council. There are four square grounds still in operation
but the ceremonial unity of the town has been shattered. Today
the various church organizations are more vigorous and probably
represent the most vital form of integration, apart from the family,
that the Seminole possess. Though the church has taken over a
number of features of the square ground, the clan system has no
role, nor does the church coincide with the old town community.
The church group is not a closely knit territorial unit; its members
are a scattered rural population and suffer from the loose integration
which such rurality imparts.
Most of these changes can be traced to two related aspects of
the acculturation process: (1) active interference in Indian affairs
on the part of whites, and (2) acceptance of this interference and
The Oklahoma Seminole Today 107
imitation of white patterns on the part of the Seminole.1 As I have
indicated, the most important contact agents up to the time of
allotment were the missionaries, whose influence was felt particularly-
through the schools. The imitative aspect was more pervasive; thus
even the non-Christians participated in the tribal government,
which was set up on a white pattern. In addition there were certainly
a number of changes of a concomitant nature. I have discussed
the close relation of the kinship system to the clan. Change in the
latter must inevitably have affected the former. Thus, the tribal
government took over functions of the clan, such as punishment for
murder; the newly established church groups did not utilize the
clan in their organization; the schools tended to weaken the authority
of the clan elders, who stood for traditional ways. All this must
have had repercussions on the kinship system.
In regard to kinship, the change among the Oklahoma Seminole
to the present time may be summarized as follows: The social im-
portance of kinship has suffered a great decline. The effective
kinship unit today is neither clan nor lineage, but the small ele-
mentary family group, together with close blood relatives of husband
and wife. Kinship behavior patterns and the clan organization
were the first to fade, though terminology has tended to shrink to the
size of the present effective kinship unit. Related to this is the
growing individualization of behavior. Finally, the strong matri-
lineal emphasis reflected throughout the old social organization has
given way before the limited patrilineal emphasis present in our
own society, with family names handed down in the male line and
with the father rather than the mother's brother the dominant male
authority in the education of children. These changes seem bound to
become more pronounced and ultimately will probably affect
the application of kinship terms, particularly those applied to the
descendants of father's sister and mother's brother, where the
emphasis on lineage is most apparent. However, the Seminole
remain the least acculturated of the Five Civilized Tribes in Okla-
homa, with the possible exception of a few of the Upper Creeks and
a handful of Cherokees.
1 Seminole social organization does not seem to have been affected by neigh-
boring Indian tribes. The Creek Nation lay directly to the east and north;
Creek and Seminole culture were very nearly the same. To the south were the
Choctaw and to the west the Potawatbmi.
V. CONCLUSION
The present report consists primarily of an account of the
kinship system of the Oklahoma Seminole. In addition, it contains
a comparison of the Oklahoma and Florida divisions of the tribe
in order to ascertain those features of the kinship system and related
aspects of social organization which were functioning before the
main part of the tribe was carried off to Oklahoma. The relevance
of these findings for the comparative study of Southeastern social
organization may be stated as follows:
(1) The Seminole data add an increment of knowledge to that
which is already known of Southeastern social organization. We
are consequently able to go one step further in the fruitful classifica-
tion of the kinship systems from this area. Although the Florida
and Oklahoma Seminole systems show certain differences, they are
sufficiently similar for us to conclude that the original Seminole
system was a straight Crow type. Also, the Eastern Cherokee
possess a Crow type system which has many points of similarity
to that of the Seminole. Inasmuch as these pertain to two of the
least acculturated groups in the Southeast, it becomes increasingly
probable that a "pure" Crow type of system was widespread in the
Southeast, and that the variations of this type — particularly in regard
to the descent pattern from the father's sister — that have been
recorded from the Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Oklahoma
Cherokee are later modifications resulting from contact with whites.
(2) The Muskogee-speaking Seminole are a direct offshoot of
the Creeks. Both the Oklahoma and Florida Seminole are on the
whole less acculturated than the Creeks. Consequently, knowledge
of Seminole social organization can throw light on features of Creek
social organization that have undergone change or no longer exist;
for example, on the basis of the Seminole data it is almost certain
that the Creeks also had a Crow type of kinship system in which
the pattern of descent from the father's sister was the same as that
recorded here for the Seminole (cf. Spoehr, 1941a, p. 24). Further-
more, new light is shed on other aspects of Creek social organization.
The Creek household is a good example. In regard to its composi-
tion, Gatschet (1884, pp. 120-121) wrote:
Many towns appeared rather compactly built, although they were com-
posed of irregular clusters of four to eight houses standing together; each of
these clusters contained a gens, eating and living in common. The huts
and cabins of the Lower Creeks resembled, from a distance, clusters of newly
burned brick kilns, from the high color of the clay.
108
Conclusion 109
Allowing for the fact that earlier ethnographic accounts fre-
quently confused an extended family grouping with that of a clan, I
believe that this statement certainly indicates the presence among
the Creeks of extended family groups similar to those of the Florida
Seminole today. There is justification, therefore, for projecting
newly found knowledge of the Seminole household backward in time.
Another problem is raised. Among the Seminole a close relation
was observed between the kinship system on one hand, and the
clan, the household grouping, and forms of marriage on the other.
Was this also true of the other Southeastern tribes, and to what
extent are changes in their kinship systems related to changes in the
clan, the household, and forms of marriage? Further investigation
of the inter-relation of the various parts of the social organization
of Southeastern tribes promises fruitful results.
(3) In Chapter II the character of the white contact agents affect-
ing the Oklahoma Seminole was briefly described. In Chapters III
and IV an outline was given of the social change among the Florida
and Oklahoma Seminole and of the changes that have occurred in the
Oklahoma Seminole kinship system. With the Seminole data before
us, we are now in a position to examine more closely the character
of kinship change among the Creek, Choctaw, and Cherokee. This
problem will form the subject of the next report in this volume on
Southeastern social organization.
^
APPENDIX: LIST OF OKLAHOMA
SEMINOLE INFORMANTS
Although a number of informants were used in addition to those
listed below, the study is based primarily on information obtained
from the following Indians. These include Christians and non-
Christians of both sexes.
Name Sex Age
Bearfeet Male 60+
White Caney Male 60+
Rina Coker Female 80+
Dave Cummings Male 60+
Mrs. Dave Cummings Female 60+
Louis Fife Male 60+
Harry Jones Male 55+
Mrs. Harry Jones Female 55+
Mrs. McGiesey Female 60+
Allie Tanyan Female 70+
Nina Tanyan Male 60+
Sallie Tanyan (Nina's wife) Female 60+
Wesley Tanyan Male 36
George Tiger Male 55+
Titaki Female 60+
Wildcat Male 60+
110
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Antle, H. R.
1936. Interpretation of Seminole kinship terms. The Chronicles of Oklahoma,
vol. 14, pp. 343-348.
Benson, H. C.
1860. Life among the Choctaw Indians and sketches of the Southwest.
Cincinnati, Ohio.
Census Bulletin
1894. The five civilized tribes. United States Department of the Interior,
Washington, D.C.
Chaney, M. A.
1928. A tribal history of the Seminole Indians. Unpublished Master's thesis,
Department of History, University of Oklahoma.
Coe, Charles
1898. Red patriots, the story of the Seminoles. Cincinnati, Ohio.
Commissioner of Indian Affairs
1867-92. Annual reports. Washington, D.C.
Eggan, Frederick
1937. Historical changes in the Choctaw kinship system. American Anthro-
pologist, n.s., vol. 39, pp. 34-52.
Foreman, Grant
1933a. Indian removal. Norman, Oklahoma.
1933b. Advancing the frontier. Norman, Oklahoma.
1934. The five civilized tribes. Norman, Oklahoma.
Fortes, M.
1936. Culture contact as a dynamic process. Africa, vol. 9, pp. 24-55.
Gatschet, A. S.
1884. A migration legend of the Creek Indians. Philadelphia.
Gilbert, W. H., Jr.
1937. Eastern Cherokee social organization. In Social Anthropology of
North American Tribes (F. Eggan, ed.). Chicago.
Haas, M. R.
1939. Natchez and Chitimacha clans and kinship terminology. American
Anthropologist, n.s., vol. 41, pp. 597-610.
Hadley, J. N.
1935. Notes on the socio-economic status of the Oklahoma Seminole.
Comitato-Italiano per lo studio problemi della popolazione, ser. 3, vol. 2.
Rome.
Krogman, W. M.
1935. Physical anthropology of the Seminole Indians of Oklahoma. Comitato-
Italiano per lo studio problemi della popolazione, ser. 3, vol. 2. Rome.
Lesser, Alexander
1929. Kinship origins in the light of some distributions. American Anthro-
pologist, n.s., vol. 31, pp. 710-730.
Ill
112 Kinship System of Seminole
MacCauley, Clay
1887. The Seminole Indians of Florida. Bureau of American Ethnology, 5th
Annual Report, 1883-84.
McKennon, Colonel
1906. Tale of the Seminoles. Muskogee Times-Democrat, May 21, p. 2.
Routh, E. C.
1932. The Story of Oklahoma Baptists. Oklahoma City.
Senate Report
1894. The five civilized tribes. Senate Report 377, 53rd Congress, 2nd Session.
Washington, D.C.
Speck, F. G.
1907. Outlines of aboriginal culture in the southeastern states. American
Anthropologist, n.s., vol. 9, pp. 287-295.
Spier, Leslie
1925. The distribution of kinship systems in North America. University of
Washington Publications in Anthropology, vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 69-88.
Spoehr, Alexander
1941a. Camp, clan, and kin among the Cow Creek Seminole of Florida. Field
Museum of Natural History, Anthropological Series, vol. 33, No. 1.
1941b. "Friends" among the Seminole. The Chronicles of Oklahoma, vol. 19,
No. 3, p. 252.
In press. Oklahoma Seminole Towns. The Chronicles of Oklahoma.
Swanton, J. R.
1922. Early history of the Creek Indians and their neighbors. Bureau of
American Ethnology, Bulletin 73.
1928. Social organization and social usages of the Indians of the Creek Con-
federacy. Bureau of American Ethnology, 42nd Annual Report, 1924-25.
Thoburn, J. B. and Wright, M. H.
1929. Oklahoma, a history of the state and its people. New York.
Wisdom, Charles
1937. Report on the social condition of the Oklahoma Seminole. Office of
Indian Affairs, United States Department of the Interior. 28 pp. (mimeo-
graphed). Washington, D.C.
INDEX
Adultery, 92, 93, 103
Allotment of Seminole lands, 38, 41, 46,
49, 106
Apalachee, 39
Arts and crafts, disappearance of, 46
Avunculate, 76-79, 90, 91, 92, 97, 100,
103, 106, 107
Bemo, John, 43
Birth, 88; restrictions on mother, 88;
shelter for, 88
Cherokee, 37, 38, 40, 42, 45, 46, 47, 82,
107, 108, 109
Chickasaw, 37, 42, 45, 46, 47, 108
Choctaw, 37, 42, 45, 46, 47, 108, 109
Civil War, 40, 41, 43, 46, 47
Clans, dual division, 52-53, 103; elders,
78-79; names, 52, 102; relation to
kinship behavior, 79-84; size, 52
Contact, agents, 42-45; milieu, 45
Creek, 37, 38, 39, 42, 45, 46, 52, 88, 99,
102, 107, 108, 109
Death, 93-95, 106; burial, 93-94, 95;
mourning customs, 94, 106
Division of labor, 54-55, 75, 90
Divorce, 77, 93
Eggan, Frederick, 35, 37
Exogamy, 52, 53, 90-91, 102, 103
Florida Seminole, comparison with
Oklahoma Seminole, 96-103; popu-
lation, 96
Games, 52, 85, 90
Gatschet, Albert S., 102, 108
Green Corn Dance, 51, 89, 90
Haas, Mary R., 35
Hitchiti, language, 39; town, 50
Homicide, 49, 103
Household, 50-51, 53-55, 102, 103, 104;
composition, 53-54, 102, 103-104
Houses, 50-51, 54, 91, 104; distribution,
50-51, 104
Humor, Indian, 81-82
Incest, 92, 103
Indian agents, 42
Inheritance, 94-95
Kinship terms, borrowings from English,
61; differences between Florida and
Oklahoma, 98-100; extensions, 61-
72, 105; principles of classification,
73, 95; referential, 60; vocative, 61
Land, owned by Nation, 49; pattern
of use, 50-51
Levirate, 62, 92, 99, 103, 106
Lilley, John, 43
Lineage, name, 54
Linguistic division, 39, 50
M'Kenney, Rev., 43
McKennon, Colonel, 48
Marriage, 90-93, 99-100, 102, 104, 106;
ceremony, 91; cross-cousin, 99-100;
exchange of gifts, 91; prohibitions,
90-91; residence after, 91-92, 102,
104, 106; selection of spouse, 90-91
Menstruation, 89-90
Missionaries, 43-45, 89, 97
Murrow, Joseph, 43
Names, clan, 52, 102; personal, 89, 105,
107; town, 49
Nation, 46-49, 50; council, 48-49, 50;
effects on social organization, 49;
legal status, 46-47; officers, 47-49
Obscenity, 75, 82, 85
Oconee, 39
Oklahoma Seminole, government agent,
41, 42, 44; population, 49; removal,
38, 39-40, 96, 108; treaties, 40, 41,
43, 47
Phratry, 53, 103
Plains Indians, depredations of, 40
Polygyny, 92, 106
Potawatomi, 107
Pregnancy, 88
Puberty, 89-90
Punishment, for adultery, 93, 103; of
children, 76, 77, 78, 79, 90, 106;
for incest, 92-93, 103; for homicide,
49, 103; for theft, 49
Railroads, 45
Ramsey, J. R., 43
Schools, 43, 45-46, 49, 89, 97; Emahaka
Academy, 45; Mikasuki Academy, 45;
Oak Ridge, 43
Seminole freedmen, 40, 44, 49-50, 55
Seminole Wars, 38, 39, 49, 96, 100, 104
Settlers, 42-43
Social change, Florida, 96-97; Okla-
homa, 97, 105-108
Sororate, 92, 99, 103, 106
Speck, F. G., 37
Swanton, J. R., 37, 38, 52, 53
Theft, 49
Totem, respect for father's, 80-81, 100
Towns, dual division, 51-52; endogamy,
90, 104; names, 49; size, 50-51
Yuchi, 37
113
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